


Analise

by WrathNotRat



Category: Far Cry (Video Games), Far Cry 5
Genre: A Chapter in themselves, Alternate Universe, Angst, Bitchy John Seed, Canon-Typical Violence, Dark Past, Deputy is a bastard, Eden's Gate, Family Dynamics, Family Secrets, Forgiving main character, Gen, Implied/Referenced Torture, Mentions of religion, One day I'll make him a different way, Other, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Past Relationship(s), Past Violence, Protective Jacob Seed, Resistance, Swearing, Time Skips, Torture, Woah look at these tags, mention of infant death, psychic connection, up to a point
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-18
Updated: 2020-04-11
Packaged: 2021-02-27 06:02:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 15
Words: 31,676
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22302298
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WrathNotRat/pseuds/WrathNotRat
Summary: -REWRITTEN-The whispers were muddled, constant. Many voices over others, singing, yelling, calming, fighting, screaming, and finally, clear as day"I told you that God wouldn't let you take me."A loud bang, and my shitty camper van caved in.The little pinch of light ahead faded into nothingness.Whatever was left dropped into the deepest, darkest ocean.No light.No noise.Just a quick, desperate yell and my world ended.I had finally arrived in Hell.Hope CountyMontanaUSA
Relationships: Jacob Seed/Original Female Character(s), John Seed/Original Female Character(s), Joseph Seed/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 18
Kudos: 43





	1. Connected.

**Author's Note:**

> THIS IS AN APOLOGY ABOUT THE REWRITE - I am so sincerely sorry, you guys. I was not happy with the way I wrote this. I've been scatty lately. Not at all well. And I compared Analise with Jade, and it just sucked. 
> 
> So, I started again, same story, but I changed the POV, and a few bits and Bobs, and, as an extra apology, given you another Chapter today. 
> 
> Forgive me, please. Love you guys x 
> 
> Jade is jogging along nicely enough, so I decided to carry on with my next Character - Analise Tao. This story is a little more serious, and hopefully not as terribly long as Jade is gonna be. I actually have an ending for this one! I know, right?! I'll try to update once a week on the Saturday.
> 
> Please lay out those delicious comments. I can drown in those bad boys.
> 
> I hope you enjoy!

The air tasted like rain.

A welcome relief. A distraction. Anything to pull him away from what he had become. His warmth within him slowly releasing into the cool air, pulling with it the dregs of his humanity. He had heard the screams, the shouts, the buzzing of alarms as he had calmly stepped through the fire escape. They knew how to handle what was to come next.

He knew, too.

As he walked through the city streets towards the train station, the rain finally fell. It drenched him quickly, flattening his short hair to his scalp, washing away his tear trails upon his cheeks, letting his cheap, bloodied clothes cling to his malnourished body.

It washed away his life, and he knew God had cleansed him.

His destiny did not exist here anymore.

It was time to listen.

\- 22 Years later -

My name is Analise Tao. I cannot express the reason as to why I hired a shitty camper van, and decided, against all my friend's advice, to travel the United States. I guess, because I wished to do what my dad couldn't. Like his being a part of me, is why I hopped in this terrible, almost terrifying excuse for a vehicle. It's not like my dad is sitting at my side. He's way up there on the puffy cloud mocking my driving skills, and laughing at the lack of air conditioning.

My father was Christian, and believed in heaven. My mother was Jewish, and did not believe in heaven. But, knowing my dad, he probably found a way to sneak my mom in. Whether she believed in it or not. He was always 'trick of the trade'. Especially when it came to his faith. 

I jammed the shift stick into 4th gear, the clutch swore as much as I did as my shitty camper van shuddered along. The September night humidity clung to me as the only release from the sticky heat was the one open window that would work. The mosquitoes were grateful. Me? Hardly. I didn't take to heat well. Knowing that my ability to swear mostly came from my father and his clear hatred of heat. I was glad we shared that.

We had shared that.

I swore, attempting to cram the stick into 5th in a vague attempt to NOT cram the wedge of cookie dough into my mouth. The camper van refused. And I dropped back into 4th, then stuck out my hand to shove the cookie dough into my mouth. Nobody would know. Or care. Apart from my ass. After chewing loudly, smacking my lips as to make it last longer (there's logic in this, I assure you), I ran a sticky hand through my short blond hair, barely recognising that I had most likely added a thin layer of grease to complain about later.

Hope County. A metal sign scattered with bullet holes on my right announced I was twelve miles out. If they had beer, I was in. Hell, if they had a working bathroom, I was in. The shitty camper van toilet had conked out over 500 miles back. Pissing on the side of a bush was charming the first time, but not quite an experience to write to my friends about.

It had been an uneventful trip. Mostly about exploring America's heartland. Next time, New York, sans shitty camper van. Or Europe, sans shitty camper van. There hadn't been any vehicles for a long while in front of me, but plenty driving past. There was signs for a Testicle Festival about 20 miles back. Maybe that's why they were fucking off. I could hardly fault them for that.

I just needed a bathroom, a shower, good food, good beer, and a bed that didn't stab me in the ass no matter how I slept. Wasn't too much to ask. Oh and a laundromat. I had one swap of clothes left, and I held tight to them like you do in a video game when someone gifts you a fancy ass potion, and you hold it forever, just in case. Now was just in fucking case, as I wafted my sweaty, dusty tank top away from my sticky body. Maybe a shower before meeting the locals. I wanted friends in every state, not enemies.

A tunnel lay ahead, the light from the lampposts along the highway thinned out, and I switched on my fog lights as I carefully drove into the pit of darkness. It had rained here, dropping down from the tunnel entrance, the water soaking away the dust on my van, and dripping through the open window like a chilly release from my stickiness. 

I felt a chill not related to the elements go through my entire body, a headache stem from nothing, and blamed that initially on the bright light from the headlights.

A sad excuse, I know.

Many times throughout my life, I had felt this way. A chill, a sudden headache, and finally, the whispers. Excuses plagued my mind for days after, shunning such foolish ideas. Knowing that I couldn't EVER talk about it.

It was just a trick. My mind was trippy, was weird, was always running, always on. My father had taught me many brilliant ideas and tips and training, and I was just running them through my head, obviously.

But sometimes, just sometimes, it felt bigger than that. It felt louder than that. More important. More than a simple girl from Chicago could ever hold that type of responsibility. It was more than me. And in that camper van, in that dark, damp tunnel, with nobody beside me, nobody to talk to, to distract, to sooth me, I finally listened to the whispers.

They were loud as I focused. My vision blurry, the tunnel fuzzy ahead of me. I tempted pulling over, but I couldn't lift my boot from the gas. The whispers controlled me, pushing me forward, further into the heated darkness. It felt like I was driving into the deepest pits of hell.

The whispers were muddled, constant. Many voices over others, singing, yelling, calming, fighting, screaming, and finally, clear as day

"I told you that God wouldn't let you take me."

A loud bang, and my shitty camper van caved in.

The little pinch of light ahead faded into nothingness.  
Whatever was left dropped into the deepest, darkest ocean.  
No light.  
No noise.  
Just a quick, desperate yell and my world ended.

I had finally arrived in Hell.

Hope County  
Montana  
USA

\- Meanwhile -

The Deputy ran, the fire hadn't caught him. The bullets from his Family followed the Lamb into the darkness. They would catch him. They would bring him to his knees in front of Joseph, in front of his brothers, and sister. They would make him go through the Baptism, the Atonement, then decide whether he was a fitting Angel or a soldier for the Project.

Joseph had felt the Deputy was more important, had felt the buzz run through his body as the leather gloves were placed shakily on his shoulder. God was with him at that moment. He had lead the way, with God leading him safely back to earth. Joseph was grateful. His family's losses were minimal. They would be mourned, but he knew that their Purpose, their Sacrifice was greater than their death. They knew it, too. That's why they did what they did. God was within them. To protect Joseph, to free him, to start the Reaping.

John was up above now, with his Chosen. Taking out the exit tunnels, watching the rivers, the skies, to prevent the weak minded Sinners from fleeing his help. They would be grateful. Not at the start, of course. Eventually, they would thank him and love him, and he would forgive them and love them in return. It was all taking place in this moment. A new life. A new world.

Joseph strolled back to his church, his brothers and sister were to meet him there. The deputies, the Sheriff, and the Marshall had been captured. The Deputy, his Lamb, was yet to be found, but it wouldn't be long. His siblings would choose, and take, and save, and kill, if necessary. They knew what they had to do.

He had caught his eldest brother's eye as he came across his church steps. His Project was few and far between, as they had taken their positions within the plans of the Reaping. The Compound was fairly empty, two Chosen at his back to protect Joseph, and his siblings were all he was aware of.

A scream.

Louder than ever before.

Almost like a woman buried within his mind, as Joseph fell to the mud beneath him, his own scream adding to the ear splitting noise, and the muted voices of his family as they surrounded him. He pounded into the mud, splashing himself with dirty, warm water as he tried to scream louder than the woman. To scream it out. To force it away from him.

He recognised her. He recognised her, and that horrified him. How can she return? Especially now?!

It's not possible.

It stopped as suddenly as it began, and a comforting, heavy hand rested on his arm as Joseph jumped, looking up at his big brother.

Jacob looked down in concern as trails of fresh blood ran down from his brother's nose, at the bloodshot eyes, a rush of terror trembling throughout Joseph enough for Jacob to drop his hand in shock. Joseph turned away suddenly, and vomited against the mud, the yellow, bitty sludge twisting throughout his fisted fingers.

Jacob heard Joseph mutter, over and over again, louder and louder until it finally made sense.

"The Lamb must die so she can return to us."


	2. Don't be afraid of the darkness. Be afraid of the light.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Analise awakens, trapped.

I was not afraid of the dark. I was not afraid of cramped conditions. But hanging upside down, my body folded in half as I draped out the window of my crushed camper van, watching my blood drip and drip, pooling beneath me, the smell and taste of copper, fuel, metal, and chalk heavy in the air, I was afraid.

My left arm had been tossed out with my upper half, and I patted at the blood from my forehead, the blood from a deep cut high up on my shoulder adding to the mix as it ran in competition against the gash to my head. A little sparkle of humour from fuck knows where laughed at the foolishness of the situation. This was the last place I was going to visit, and I had just made it. And now I'm going to die.

No.

I'm too young. Had too much life ahead of me. As much as I wanted to visit my parents again, that was way off in the fucking future. Not now. Not today. And because of something foolish I had...was it me? Was I at fault? I lifted my upper body carefully, flinching at the sticky glass now poking at me. I tried to raise my head up to see beyond the windshield but something rested heavily above me, and I realised there was no way to rise that far.

I padded my hand against the door currently supporting my body, and found the handle amongst slivers of glass now inserting themselves in my skin to worry about later. It came open a lot easier than I had expected, and my entire body fell out the van, crushing into glass, and blood, and something that wafted a great deal of dust up my nostrils.

"Oh FUCK! What the fuck?!" The entire tunnel was out!! There was no way back, I had already reached Hope County. The only thing I could do was head in the same direction of the remaining fog light, and go forward. They had to have help.

I spent time trying to climb back into the camper van, at least TRY to find supplies to bring with me, but the fucking thing was crushed, trees from up above leading a waterfall of dark, murky, sappy rainwater to ruin what was left.

The only thing I had on me was a flip knife tucked in my boot. My shirt was ripped right down the back, leaving a painful lash against me like a whip against my flesh. The tree must have caught me. I kept my shirt on, it was better protection against the elements than just my tank top. And my tank top wasn't much better, half split down the back with the force of the whip, and with a tear from navel to breast. Really, I was lucky to have anything left on my top half.

My shorts, at least, were mostly okay. Apart from the blood, and the fact that they weren't really made for collapsed tunnels. Below that, my bruises and cuts that scattered my skinny, chicken legs were only something to bitch about after beer.

"Right. Piece of fucking cake. It's dark as fuck, follow the fog light...which was flickering. Typical." I muttered to myself, grateful for the noise beyond all the devastation. I dragged a bloody hand through my hair, flinching as I accidentally embedded bits of glass into my skull 

"Time to go. Thank you, shitty camper van, you saved my ass, and, if it was my fault, might have actually fucking killed me." I padded a bloody hand against what was left of the roof, and followed the bloody, shit road.

***

John had done what he could for Joseph. Carefully helping him back to his small home on the outskirts of the Compound, and turning his back as his older brother stepped into his tiny shower. They had dragged the curtain across and John had waited outside as he listened to the muttering of Joseph, loud enough to hear over the rattling of old pipes and gushing of tepid water.

Hudson was waiting for him in his Bunker. It helped for them to stew for a while, their minds wondering on what he could inflict upon them. They were right to fear him. Usually they couldn't imagine anything close to what he was capable of. Quite a few people would just say "Yes" before he'd even reached for a blade. Usually that wouldn't stop John from going a little further. Atonement must always be painful. How would you learn your lesson otherwise?

His people were already prepping the video, the props etc. Jacob had left to prepare his men, Faith had left to check the supplies of Bliss and continue mixing it in with the drinking water. John was busy, too. But Joseph rarely asked for help, and the shock of what his brother had heard as he had screamed against the screaming...It was pretty horrific to all of them.

Apparently, someone else was on their way, or even already here. A woman? A girl? Hell, even a baby for all they know. A female of some kind. Joseph hadn't provided enough to go on. Maybe he didn't know, or maybe he wanted to keep it to himself.

John leaned back against the broken tiles of his brother's bathroom, close enough to the shower that he could help Joseph if need be. The Deputy had fucked off somewhere. Proof of another person showing up. Boot prints, and drag marks, and broken branches. But this new person knew how to bury his tracks and even the most experienced Chosen had lost them. They doubted this saviour of the Deputy was the mystery woman, but only on the boot size alone.

Didn't matter anyway. The Deputy, the Lamb, wasn't meant to walk or be dragged beside them into Eden's Gate. He was dust now. One bullet. Hell, one burst of flame and say goodbye to the bastard who was supposed to destroy them all. All the siblings would gladly shake the hand of the Eden's Gate member who accomplished that. Oh the things they could do with the Deputy's corpse...

A small smile lit up John's face as Joseph reached his dripping hand out for a towel. John jumped up, passing his brother a towel from the warmth of the fireplace in the bedroom.

A mumbled word of thanks, and Joseph stepped out of the shower, towel around his waist, still unsteady on his feet. He raised a hand, John expecting him to lean against the tiles, but Joseph gripped John on the shoulder, pulling John into him in a welcome moment of brotherly love.

John immediately dipped his head, and closed his eyes. The dampness from the shower now clinging to his own forehead, to his clothes as Joseph breathed deeply beside him.

A calm, wet hand brushed up against John's neck, causing John to flinch, his stomach knotted. The hand tightened, just a touch, then ran to his shoulder. Gripping him firmly enough to make him look up into the storm growing within his older brother's eyes.

"She's coming, John. It's impossible, but she's on her way. My wife. She's on her way. We need to be ready."

***

"Fuck!"

I swore in my solitude as yet another shard of glass from old light fittings cut into my flesh. I'd need a tetanus shot after all this shit. All I wanted was a beer, damn it, a friend, a fucking postcard! I had no money left to get home, no money for rent, no money for medical treatment. I could beg my friends back home but they were as poor as I was.

Although....I wasn't really poor. I just didn't wish to spend the money left behind by my beloved parents. I was still young, and frugal. I just wanted to go at it alone. Maybe use that money to help people.

I fell back against the shattered tunnel, avoiding a yellow, dripping gush of water from a broken pipe. My body, and my clothes could not withstand all this self rescue. Was there even anybody on the other side? How much air was left? I couldn't be far now. The spot of light could have been anything. It was all gone, just the remaining fog light I relied heavily upon.

Fuck no. I wasn't going to die here. In the dark. No way. I forced herself forward, grasping the Cross necklace around my neck, pressing the dirty metal to my chapped lips. I rubbed my bloody fingers against my Star of David bangle warm around my wrist.

My parents. Their faith. Always with me.

Rushing back to my camper van, I shoved my hand under the broken, crumpled metal of the dashboard, forcing my way through to the engine, the crushed bonnet ripping at my knuckles. A metal bar lay there, to the left, if I remembered correctly. Which I probably did as I spent so much fucking time fixing the piece of shit.

Finally, I grasped at the metal, not being able to pull it out, so I forced it forward enough to shoot out the other side with a loud SCRRRRRCH.

"YUUUUUS!!!!" Whispering a quick prayer to whoever was listening, I grabbed at the metal pipe, and forced it forward with the confidence of an Olympic pole vaulter. It jammed into the crumbly concrete, and I twisted and heaved, and finally...it collapsed. Not quite successfully as it almost broke all my toes.

Fresh air, though. Fuck yes!!! After coughing aggressively, I breathed deep, never smelling anything as wonderful as the stench of fire and...oh shit. It was a dead person. Blood and brain matter scattered the road. An older man, crushed beneath his car on the way out of the County. He hadn't made it.

I forced my way through the remains of the tunnel, the tunnel gripping at what was left of my clothes as it tried to pull me back. No way, tunnel of death. I wanna live.

I knelt down in the passed man's cooled blood, my pain mixing with what remained of his, and placed a bloody, trembling hand across his open eyes. I closed his eyes gently, just as I had for my father, and prayed. 

My whispers complimenting the fire still lit up beside us.


	3. An entrance through the exit.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A view through the eyes of Pastor Jerome Jeffries.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> LOOK OVER THERE!!! 
> 
> *Nudges slightly late Chapter in front of you*
> 
> Oh, I do apologise. I believed I saw Chris Evans and he has his butt on him.
> 
> Now that you forgive me because you have the image of Chris Evans and his butt in your minds, please enjoy this Chapter which I definitely posted earlier.
> 
> Also, it's a bit shorter. But, if it makes you feel any better, please insert appropriate excuse here ______________________. 
> 
> Wow, nice one 👊
> 
> I was poorly this week. Much barfing. Kept falling asleep. Hard to eat. Bet my excuse wasn't as good as the one you wonderful people gave me, though ☺

Pastor Jerome Jeffries was just leaving the Lamb of God church when he had witnessed the explosions. He had visited the church as a promise to Father Brian...And a way to burn Eden's Gate supplies at the fairly tucked in position at the back. 

Jerome had admitted to himself that perhaps a bonfire of items that were partly related to God was a mistake. But as he had watched the flames rise up from the very ground of God, the ground which was tainted by the boots and breaths of extremism. Using the word of God to maim, to purposely bring suffering to others, innocent or not, was one of the worst kind of disgusting actions he had ever seen when it had come to something that he had undeniably believed in. They were corrupting faith. They were immoral. No good could come from this. 

Jerome's doubts were lifted within the ashes, and scattered amongst the stars.

However, as Jerome was leaving the church, he had come across a few Eden's Gate trucks lined up in a perfect row along the road. Men and women, lost in their ways, were dotted about. Orders being shared, replies of "No, brother. Yes, sister." Too many for Jerome to speak to. He was no Pastor to them.

He had his shotgun, of course. Currently tucked into his arm. But no room for death here. Besides, an unfortunate belief had been held with the Pastor's mind for a while now - They would make the first move.

He had skirted around, the soldier in him shaking his head in disbelief, heading North and then East along the road towards Steele Farm. The family there had feared for their lives. Their continuous "No" to John had led the youngest Seed brother to threaten them with all kinds of twisted, violent ends. John had decided they could not be saved, had shown up three days back, surrounded by his men, and marked SACRIFICE against the tarmac at the base of their driveway.

Jerome had shown up hours later to find the entire family on their hands and knees, scrubbing away at the word, at the hatred behind the word, as if they could scrub away John Seed himself. Jerome had helped, but an arm on his, and a frantic look from the father of the family had kept him away. They didn't wish for Jerome, an actual man of God, to be infected by this hate. The Steele family were leaving within days. Yet another family ruined because of Joseph Seed.

The sudden roar of planes wasn't new to Jerome. There had been the war, of course, but it was also a fairly common event in Hope County. 

Not like this, though. 

Jerome had looked up to see 4 planes. 1 leading, the others neatly placed behind it. Almost like beloved children's toys placed upon a shelf. They had purposely, and gracefully, glided down towards him. Jerome had stood in the middle of the road outside the Steele Farm, his near useless shotgun in his hands pointed to heaven itself. He had believed this to be his end.

But they had dropped their horror filled loads towards the tunnel to the West, just behind him. And he had watched in shock as the tunnel collapsed in a twisted scream of metal and concrete.

Jerome hadn't felt himself fall back, hadn't realised he was unconscious. The brightness of the sky, and the fading of the stars and his doubts above told him otherwise. A trail of blood led a path to a throbbing pain on his brow. His shotgun lay at his side, doubly useless against debris.

The very reason he knew he had a concussion, was because amongst the flames and the dust choking the air, between the charred remains of trucks and cars, the bodies within now forever a part of what was left of the metal, the cloth, and the ashes, beside a flattened vehicle, the red of the blood tinted by the hellfire still blazing alongside the devastation, knelt a young woman.

Her bloodied shirt torn almost indecent across the upper half of her body. Her shorts a solid red, too much suffering hadn't even let the white of the chalk or the black of the smoke stain the obvious pain away.

Her blond hair slicked back by the death that had been brought down upon her.

Jerome caught her lips moving, unaware if she was simply silent, or if his hearing was destroyed.

As her hand had dropped from the crown of the crushed corpse that Jerome had barely noticed, the sun had rose from behind him, just as this woman before him rose as well, a little unsteady on her feet.

She smiled at Jerome, and despite the blood, ashes, and death that covered her face, Jerome could swear to God that he had seen her beautiful features before.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The tunnel is the unnamed one at the West of the Steele Farm and the Lamb of God church in the Holland Valley. I crammed the Steele Farm and that tunnel closer together because I be author and what I say is not at all true but that's basically it. Just pinch of salt this story, okay? Some of you have read Jade, and you know I'm weird...Love you guys!


	4. A taste of Eden's Gate.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Analise and Pastor Jerome Jeffries make their way slowly into Hope County.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> FIRST TWO CHAPTERS REWRITTEN. NOTES FROM THE FIRST CHAPTER AS TO WHY. Once again, I do apologise. Please throw swears at me if you desire. I do like swears, though. I don't like football!! Go ahead, football facts my ass.

Why was I smiling? Surrounded by the blood, the death, the waft of fumes from a fire still lit up beside us. Oh...wait a second. There were more dead people in the vehicles, and partly out of them. Unrecognizable, charred. 

Don't stop here, Analise. Pray and walk, pray and walk - Another lesson from my father, from his time in the war. Sometimes, you just don't have time. 

Take a note.  
Don't ever forget.

I came back to my current situation. A man was standing ahead of me. Older, African American, handsome. Beard, a bit bloodied from the gash to his head. He held a weapon in both of his hands, his fingers caressing the metal. A radio on his hip. He wore black. Black jeans, black shirt, black...not a vest. Thicker. Body armour? Why would he...the collar!! He had a white collar. An item I could recognise, even if I didn't recognise the man.

So this was Hope County? A tad on fire, but what a fucking entrance. A sign ahead, behind the curious, injured man of God 

\- WELCOME TO  
HOLLAND VALLEY -

I looked back to the man, taking careful steps forward, gracefully tripping over a tyre still heated to the touch, gasping as it singed my bare leg. That brought the holy man over to me, lowering his weapon, and raising his arm to help me over the debris.

"Thank you...Pastor?" I asked, embarrassed if I had assumed incorrectly.

"That's correct, miss. Pastor Jerome Jeffries. I'm afraid your welcome into our County has been an unfortunate one."

"My name is Analise Tao, and it's a real pleasure to be here. Despite the suffering. From what I can see..." I paused, looking into distance as the Pastor led us away from the flames. It was still fairly dark. The trees followed the road into the distance. Unusual flowers scattered to the side. "...Your county looks beautiful."

The Pastor laughed at that. "Well, it certainly has its issues, and I believe they just became a lot more horrific."

I looked over my shoulder at all the death. 

"Yes, Pastor. Do you know what caused this? I thought, perhaps, it was my camper van, but I don't believe it has the ability to bring down an entire tunnel, no matter how awful the van was."

The Pastor frowned then, tucking his shotgun closer to his body. 

"No, Miss Tao. It wasn't you. It was Eden's Gate."

Eden's Gate? 

"Analise, please, and are they a militia? Why would they take out the tunnel?"

We passed a sign for Fall's End to our right.

A long sigh blew from his open lips as he shook his head.

"I believe something has happened that has caused them to be volatile. Eden's Gate is a religious cult. Extremism ramped up. They're led by one Joseph Seed. A crazed man, capable of bringing his confidence to suck in recruits. He has two brothers. Jacob, the eldest, trains the Eden's Gate troops in the North. John, the youngest, well, he's a little more sadistic. He is, or was, a talented lawyer. He runs Baptisms and...well, we'll speak of him later. There's an adopted sister, too. Faith. They've gone through a few. She's to the East. Just avoid the East, that'll be best for you."

The Pastor turned to me as we had passed a driveway to our left.

"John Seed, this Valley, to him and his men, belongs to John Seed." He looked me up and down, taking in my ripped clothing. I shied away, but I believe the Pastor was trying to make a point.

"John is going to take an interest in you. You're young. You're pretty, and, from what I've seen, you're tough. Avoid him at all costs."

I took in this information as we walked along the road. Why would one man, this John Seed, take an interest in me? Despite my fabulous ass, I was a nobody. 

We were coming up to a fork in the road, a couple of billboards just ahead. The Pastor stopped suddenly, turning me gently towards him.

"Have we ever met before?"

"No, Sir. Never been to Montana."

"Your siblings then? Parents? Where were they born?"

"No siblings. Mother was born in Poland, and moved to Chicago when she was 13. Father was born in Chicago, married my mom, and, after the war, moved down South. I was born, and we all moved to Chicago. Neither of them had been to Montana. Besides, even if they had been to Montana, I was adopted, so they don't look like me. That's pretty much it. Why?" I questioned, smiling up at him.

"I can't put my finger on it, but I've seen you before."

"Maybe just one of those faces(?)"

"Yes, probably. Maybe it's the concussion." The Pastor laughed. I could certainly agree with him there.

We kept walking, coming up to the billboards on our right. 

\- THE POWER  
OF YES  
TAKE THE LEAP -

Some sort of marking took up the left side of the billboard. A star? Almost angrily taking up room.

Huh.

"One of theirs, or an advertisement for skydiving?"

"Eden's Gate. You'll see that symbol often. See..?" The Pastor pointed to supplies at the side, including flags - white, red, and black flags folded up neatly. White lace. Dried flowers I didn't recognise. Metal Eden's Gate symbols, and...barbed wire? Were they protecting the billboards?

Another sign at its side. Grey background. The words

-WE LOVE YOU  
AND  
WE WILL TAKE YOU-

That Eden's Gate symbol above it, and a larger symbol behind a cheesy man with a beard, slicked back hair, slightly misshapen nose (but that could be the billboard), his tattooed hand raised in a condescending manner. He had some sort of marking on his chest, it wasn't the Eden's Gate symbol. Wearing a large screw or something on a string around his neck. 

He was wearing...wait. Were those planes?! I stifled a giggle. Aww I wonder what he wants to be when he grows up. Shhh, Analise. Look serious.

"John Seed, I presume?"

"Yes. Remember him. Remember that symbol. They will hurt you, one way or another. They will drag you into hell itself."

Oh. Maybe not too cheesy. Wannabe devil. A cocky one at that.

We headed towards the bridge, a line of blood from fuck knows where on my body following behind us. A trail of smoke was drifting up from the left. A vehicle. Overturned. I wondered for a moment if it was from the tunnel, but then I saw, and the Pastor spoke before I did.

"Bullet holes. No. Oh God, no. They've truly started something. We have to go. NOW!"

"Wait!" I yelled as he yanked me along the bridge, his eyes searching the sides of the road. "What about the police?! An ambulance?! Anything like that?"

"No, it's no good. They won't be able to protect us. We need to get back to Fall's End."

We came to a sign to our left beside a long, twisted road, just ahead of another bridge. 

BLACK HORSE PEAK

We were just heading past it when the Pastor yelled out. He pulled me into him, whispered "Go with God." and promptly pushed me off a hill on the edge of the bridge. 

I gasped, rolling painfully down and down until I hit cold, oddly soothing water. It pulled me along, just under the bridge as I popped up on the other side, dragging myself to shore. 

I climbed up the hill, keeping low as I heard raised voices yelling against the soft tones of the Pastor. I peeked through the metal barriers. 

3 trucks. White. I could just see the black symbol of Eden's Gate on the side. Groups of men in white jumpers, others in black leather jackets. Guns and pissed off expressions galore. 

And John Seed, sans cutesy coat. He certainly had a confidence about him. But, hell, he was furious. Yelling and pointing at the Pastor, as the Pastor stood calmly, shotgun now gripped by one of the Eden's Gate people.

I overheard parts of the conversation -

"...We know she's here....Just let her go...If you harm one hair..." And finally, loud enough that it chilled me - even though I wasn't this poor woman they were obsessing over. "Go back to your pathetic excuse for a flock, and let them know we KNOW they have her! We are coming for the Mother. All of us."


	5. To run, to lie, to live, or die.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Analise and Jerome take a short tour through hell.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello!! Managed to catch up on this story. Bit healthier this week, so wrote two Chapters here, and two Chapters on Jade. That means I can be sick next week! See? Think ahead :)

John stared in the eyes of the older man. Jerome knew something, no doubt in his mind. But John could hardly get it out of him here. His men would be sent to watch over Sinful Fall's End, at least until John was available to take it over. 

For now, let the Mother show herself. Let her face be raised to the warmth of the sun, feeling as free as the clouds above her. That is when John will strike. He will be the one to bring her to the Father. 

A smile and a nod to his men, as John stepped away from Jerome. 

"Jerome, would you like a lift back to Fall's End?"

Jerome shifted, his shotgun, minus the ammo, being passed over by one of John's men.

"No, thank you, John. I'd rather not be seen associating with you."

John held his breath, letting it out through his nose slowly. A way to hold in his Wrath.

"Praise be to the Father, Jerome."

John pretended not to hear the failed Pastor's parting whispered words -

"I'd rather praise horse shit."

John knew they would meet again. If not by Jerome's choice, then by his own. 

He got into his truck, instructing the driver to head to Rae-Rae's Pumpkin Farm. They drove, John instructing them to continue, but slowly. Humming to his song on the radio, John waited until they were just out of sight, then hopped out of the truck, dodging into the trees. He signalled for two men to follow him, pulled his radio out, and then waited for the Pastor's lie to make herself known.

***

We waited. Remaining in our positions, Jerome only pushing himself further into the bushes as not to arouse suspicion. He raised his hand to call me over about twenty minutes after John left. I stumbled a little after leaving the bushes. The fall hadn't exactly helped with the those wounds inflicted by the tunnel.

The Pastor noticed this.

"I do apologise, Analise. I just chose the less painful option knowing that the water was down there."

"You don't need to apologise, Pastor. I understand. Thank you. You could have easily thrown yourself after. It doesn't appear as though John is a fan of you."

"No. No, he's not. It has been a difficult time, with all the brothers, but John...John has been a new type of hell."

I rested my arm on his for a moment, noticing with a grimace the small blood stain left behind. I didn't tell him of it.

We continued up the road, past the bridge, and up to a building on our right. No proper name here, just something to do with weed control. I doubted it was the drug. A small red farmhouse filled my view, a shed to its side, and maybe a water tower? I wasn't familiar with it growing up in a city and everything.

Pastor Jerome opened up the double doors, and we went into the red farmhouse. He locked the door behind us. The sun shone through a open door at the back, higher up, letting me know there was waves of dust to add themselves to my damp, bloody body. 

Jerome placed his hand on my shoulder, then grabbed at a few supplies near the entrance. Weapons, of all kinds. He inserted cartridges into his shotgun. Montana, perhaps? I was used to weapons but not carelessly tossed about like this. 

Jerome climbed up the ladder at the back. He tossed down a bag, clothes spilling out. No medkit, but this was certainly second best. I hid under the small balcony to get dressed. Using a spare jumper, torn up, to clean and attempt to fix my wounds best I could.

Tossing my ratty, torn clothes under a bale of hay, I wiped down my treasured items of faith, making sure there was no blood around them to let them slip off easily. 

I wanted to sit, the blood loss affecting me more than I'd like, but I knew we needed to go. If not for my concussion, then for his. 

Besides, this was some sort of a war.  
Dad's advice no. Bazillion and 2: Keep fucking going.

I climbed up the ladder, thanking Jerome as I hit the top. It was daylight now, the birds acknowledged this more dramatically than I did.

We looked out over the fields, listening to the squeak of the metal windmill beside us. The whole world lay ahead. Peaceful, if not for the pops of bullets, the screams of victims. No way to find them. Their sounds carried by the wind. Everywhere and nowhere.

A flash of black, a fog of green, and an arrow hit the edge of the farmhouse, right beside my head. A sudden, heavy weight was felt within me, as the Pastor yanked me back against him. He was stumbling, tripping up against his own power. Grabbing at his gun with trembling fingers. 

A voice was heard. Unfamiliar.

"We have you surrounded, sweetheart. Why don't you, and your little Pastor friend come on out?"

Jerome grabbed my shoulders, a sudden sweat out of nowhere had struck his features horrifically. I could almost taste his anxiety. I don't know what the green fog was. I felt heavy, weird, with little blue dots floating in the corner of my eye, but I was clearly more capable than Jerome. Maybe he had allergies?

He frantically whispered into my ear, forcing some sort of grenade into my hand. A handgun into the other.

"That's Jacob. If he's here... You gotta go. Go now!! Toss the smoke grenade out this exit then head South. Don't go to Fall's End. I don't know who you are, but they think you're the Mother...but you're too...you can't be! Just run!! Don't ever stop!!"

Jerome fell back off the balcony. I tried to catch him, and almost jumped after him, but he charged the double doors at the entrance, shooting his way through the lock as he ran out into whoever and whatever was out there. 

Loud bangs, then silence.

No.

Oh God, no.

Run, Analise. Run.

No!

Think.

***

Jacob kicked at the unconscious body of Jeffries. A quick smack with his pistol and the old man fell to the dirt. He was impressed, though. Rarely do people charge towards them, completely, and obviously, outnumbered.

All of his men, including his youngest brother, surrounded him as he led the way to the farmhouse. Booting the door open gently, his eyes adjusting to the light, Jacob eased his way in.

The building wasn't that large. He'd figure out who this "figure of a small woman" - his brother's words - was and have it sorted within the hour. 

John had never met Joseph's wife. Jacob hadn't either. She only lived in a few old photos, kept treasured, and one tattoo, kept forever in place on Joseph's wrist. 

There was nobody in sight on the ground floor. Jacob and his men scattered, searching for hidden traps, and doors. Peering behind old, metal furniture, and haybales. 

"Come on out, sweet. We're not gonna hurt you. We just need to confirm somethin, and then we'll be on our way. You and your Pastor can go back home." Jacob spoke as soft as he could, letting his natural southern charm spin out the lies.

Saving a silent scowl for John as his brother had scoffed at letting these two go free.

One way or another, these two were joining Eden's Gate. If only because they had forced Jacob out of his territory at a maddening time of conflict. He would have told John to "fuck off" if it was anything less than an apparent dead wife of Joseph. Jacob had seen the blood, the desperation as his brother was on his knees this morning at the church. 

He'd never seen it that bad.

There was only one other place she could be. Towards the gently swinging oil light up on the balcony. He held his hand up to signal his men to get ready, then climbed the ladder. 

Nothing. Drops of fresh blood, but nobody here. Nowhere to hide. Fuck. 

Jacob stood on the balcony, resting his hands against the frame as he stared out into the blinding sun, at the fields and cows in the distance. The oil light flickering above him. 

Something bothered him. 

An engine. HIS engine. 

Jacob dropped down from the balcony, charging through his men as he ran outside to the road. 

A flash of blond hair in the front, the black outfit of the Pastor in the back, and some sort of red rope going from the truck and up and over the roof of the farmhouse.

A female voice yelled from his truck.

"RUN!"

Jacob twisted to the farmhouse, watching through the open double doors as the oil light dropped, down and down...

NO!!

"GET DOWN!!" Jacob roared.

Jacob yanked his brother by the throat, out and away and threw themselves both into the dirt as the farmhouse exploded behind them. The bits of burning wood shredding their clothes, and the noise of the explosion deafening the screams of his men still left in the barn. 

Noticing the flames on his brother's silk shirt, he rolled his brother desperately against the dirt to put him out, knowing the pain fire could cause. 

So focused on his brother, that he didn't even realise about his own pain until John looked up and started trying to roll Jacob over. 

A minute later, it was over. His flames were out, as were John's. The truck long gone. 

They rose together with a groan, turning towards what was left.

The limbs of his men were scattered about. The fire rose into the sky. Whoever this...Jacob couldn't even think of a word to use against her that wasn't full of anger right now. Whoever SHE was, she was smart. And despite the warning yell, she was not on Eden's Gate side. 

Mother or no. 

***

Okay. That was mildly more explosive than I had expected.

We drove and drove. "We" as in me, because the Pastor was still flat out in the back of the truck bed. I had checked his pulse before lifting him. He would have a headache, if he hadn't had one before. It was not a good day to be his head. 

Everything back at the farmhouse was just luck. A lamp, an extension lead for looping, and, oh look, explosives behind the building. 

I had climbed onto the roof from the back, praying the arrow dude had worked his way around to the front. Maybe they didn't expect me to jump from a distance. It was pretty high up. I would have, but I couldn't leave Jerome. Not like that. No man left behind etc. 

Even if he was dead.

Dragging the extension lead with me, I had looped it around the oil light, switched the light on, and shifted across the roof to the other side as they had bunched into the farmhouse. 

Wrapping the extension lead around a pipe to keep it secure while I hopped down, I made my way quickly to Jerome, shoving his gun under my arm, and dragging him, and my lead to the head truck. 

It was easy after that, just turn the key left conveniently, and fairly confidently, in the truck, and let go of the extension lead. 

But I needed to warn someone. 

I honestly didn't expect the explosion to be that dramatic. We didn't really have many types of explosive devices in Chicago. Maybe there was something in the barn that added to it. I did see a few bags of God knows what. 

I don't know how long we had been driving. It was an Eden's Gate truck. A symbol hung from the mirror, occasionally smacking me on the forehead until I tossed it out the fucking window. 

We passed a garage soon after we left, Eden's Gate trucks dotted about. Nope. 

Carrying on. Some sort of power station. Fresh blood dripping from corpses in a pile half in the road. Nope.

A broken down gas station was next. Partly on fire. Eden's Gate people cheering, then turning around to watch us drive on. Big fucking nope. 

And a sign to Fall's End. But the Pastor...no. We couldn't. There was a reason he said no.

I headed straight on. Passing bodies hung up. Fires started. I used my truck as a disguise, trying my best to crush into anybody who was hurting innocents on the side of the road - God forgive me - and pulling the innocents desperately into the truck as they cried out.

By the time I drove past some sort of grain building to my right, a frantic smacking to my shoulder announced there was a medical clinic on a road to our left. I swung round, the bodies I'd helped smacking into each other as I reached the abandoned clinic. Thank fuck.

Six of the seven innocents I'd crammed into the truck immediately disappeared into the clinic, leaving myself and one kind, older gentleman to help me carry the Pastor. 

A sign at the entrance

IN CASE OF  
EMERGENCY  
Call 911

Seriously?

I have had enough of fucking signs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now, I did play Far Cry 5, and travelled the roads and ended up at Davenport Farm. They do have the items in my story. I just needed something to go Kablooy. Far Cry was kind enough to provide them. 
> 
> This story is different than Jade because I have to explore, which means I have to play video games 🙌


	6. Excuses.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Analise pauses to take in the horrors before they come banging on the door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I named Joseph's wife Caroline. Just not enough information about her to know for sure, and Caroline is a pretty name for the wife of a less murderous muppet.
> 
> I did lose a subscriber, a good chance because of the Rewrite. I do sincerely apologise for that. I was trying something new which is a terrible idea, really, and not at all successful.

Jacob had one long strip of bloodied clothing. The remains of a tank top. He doubted that it belonged to the Pastor. It was hers. Tinged up the side from the very fire that she had caused. 

This will be enough. 

***

Joseph did everything he could possibly do. The Voice he had depended on for long had gone silent, just when he needed God the most. 

The scream, however...That never left him. Rolling around and around in his mind. It echoed throughout God's busy sky, thrusting through the deep darkness and directing the rain to crash into him, drenching him to a point of hypothermia.

As Joseph stood chilled to his bones, accepting the pain rather than leaving for some place warm, he recognised the taste in the air of the moment his humanity ceased to be.

The moment he had truly listened. 

In his life, he had wondered if his Caroline had screamed before she had died in that car crash all those years ago. Whether she had a moment to plead with God to let her live, to spend more time with her husband. 

With their daughter.

Now was not the time to disappear from his family, from his children. The Reaping had begun. This was it. Everything that he had lived for. Everything that he had built. It all could all be knocked down like dominoes. Time was running out.

Excuses. Excuses. Excuses.

He was the Father. 

She was the Mother.

His Caroline was brought here by God for a reason. And he had to find out why before it was too late.

***

The clinic didn't have a shower. The clinic didn't have beer. The clinic barely had cold pizza. 

Tsss The things we do for our new friends.

Jerome was still resting. I'd wrapped him up to the best of my ability. He would be okay, according to the little book of first aid I'd dug out of a bookcase. It didn't exactly have a 'what to do if you have a concussion, and then you say "fuck it, why not?" and give yourself another concussion.' chapter. It was only about the one smack to the head. I did my best. 

Six of the seven people I had dragged off the roads had scattered, muttering about "escape" and "family". I didn't fault them. There were more important things. Let them do what they had to. 

A single man was left behind. The older gentleman from before, the one who had helped me carry Jerome. He sat in the office, covered in blood that didn't belong to him. I didn't ask. I made him coffee and left him be. Thinking that the Pastor could help him once he was able to. Or hoping that, at least.

After carefully checking Jerome, I dragged myself to the bathroom, pushing the door to behind me but not quite closed so I could keep an ear out for 'I wanna be a pilot when I grow up' and 'red bed head who may be dead'.

A medkit had fallen off a cupboard behind the door. A big fucking hint to take care of myself. 

I wiped the dirt off the mirror in front of the sink, then popped out to drag a stool in with me as I sat and stared at the stranger in the mirror. As a fleshy, squishy human, I was not proud of my appearance. That wasn't really one of the lessons my dad had taught me, and my mom had died before I was a year old so she was unable to girl me up. 

I groaned to the stranger, letting her groan back at me in sympathy. Then I got to work. This was going to hurt like a bitch. But better an alive in agony bitch than a dead for a foolish reason bitch. 

An hour later...oh fuck. An hour later and I wanted a fucking beer. There were drugs for making me pain free but loopy but then I'd be loopy. I need no loop, I need logic, and they didn't have pills for that. 

After checking in on both my stolen clinic's guests, who were either unconscious or appeared to be wanting the sweet relief of not being aware of the horrors that been inflicted upon them, I started searching through the garage, looking for supplies. 

I didn't think that a stethoscope, a framed picture of a quad bike, and a bag of fertiliser would be enough to Blue Peter our way out of this shit. 

The needles, though...They might do. Just needed the right drug. Easy enough in here. In fact, they had plenty of useful shit left behind. The way things were going... I'll just stuff my pockets.

I found a white rucksack in the garage, dragging it through the mud outside to add a little camo.

We'd need to leave soon. This place was useless to guard. Windows in nearly every room. Doors wouldn't lock without a key, and windows on each exit door. I went outside the door from the treatment area, knowing I'd seen a brush out there - Maybe I could block off a part of the door.

Grabbing the brush, I turned to go back inside. That's when he struck. The red bed head dead man. I could tell he was pissed. It it wasn't my fantastic intuitive survival skills, then it was the thick, muscular arm wrapped around my collarbone, dragging me to fuck knows where. I dead weighted, knowing that kicking would be useless here, and to save my strength. 

He dragged me far back enough that the clinic was barely in sight and threw me to the soft grass on a slope. He...Jacob, right?...straddled me, thighs on either side of my hips, his rifle slapping my leg as it swung from his back, and forced me with a heavy grip around my chin to look directly up at him as he came up real close to my face and stared at me. 

***

Blue. 

Her eyes were blue.

Caroline's eyes were green. 

The pictures, and the one time Joe had ever spoken of her, they were only ever green. Plus, this kid was early 20s max.

It wasn't her. But..it was. Everything else was right. Her cheekbones. Her lips. Her nose. Even that angry crinkle now resting between her eyebrows. 

She was a replica of Caroline.

Either that, or...

Something tiny stabbed him in the thigh, and Jacob blacked out, falling forward. 

***

Well...that could have turned out better. I know he's out, but he's out on me. 

And he weighs a LOT. 

Plus, I think I used too much. 

Also, there's the teeniest, tiniest chance that the bottle of sedative, or maybe tranquilizer (Don't trust me to take care of you medically), has a horse on it. 

Sooo...yeah. 

He's about the size of a horse, anyways. Give or take a few...hundred pounds. Guess this clinic doubles as a vet. What is most important is that he is still breathing, and I know that because his heart is pounding its way heavily into my arm as he's draped askew over me.

Luckily, he dragged my ass to a slope, so I just squirmed and swore until he slid off me, and rolled down the hill, only hitting about seven trees. 

Apart from almost killing me, God was on my side that day as Jacob rolled clumsily down the hill, crushing his way through the wooden fence, and slamming into the side of the clinic. 

I dragged the half comatose gentleman outside to help me shift Jacob onto a wheelbarrow, took his weapons - a handgun, a large knife, and a sniper rifle, all in red - and radio, and rolled him into the storage room between the bathroom and office. No windows, just a door. Don't worry, I tossed a bedpan in there, too.

Dragging the pin board in from the office after ripping off the bullshit, I tacked a note to it, and left it across his body. 

-No worries, Red.  
I'll contact your brother.  
I'll tell him where you are and that you've been a bad boy, and he needs to take away your cockiness. 

Please enjoy pushing past the shit I stacked in front of this door to keep you in your naughty wheelbarrow. 

This is for the Pastor x

P.S. God be with you, bitch.-

Eloquent young lady that I am, I think I nailed my mild displeasure.

I nudged the Pastor into a wheelchair, then slotted him carefully into the truck. Piling the medical supplies into the back, then leading the almost comatose gentlemen into the passenger seat, I returned to the clinic, one final time, to firmly keep Red in his place. 

***

A soft unknown voice interrupted John just as he had peeled his blade along the collarbone of a Gluttony. John was used to screams, to begging, to threats against his, and his family's lives, so when a songbird sang through the suffering, John listened.

"Oh Johnny boy." The songbird sang. "I have a little gift for you. Now, I didn't have a chance to wrap your red panda up, but he's probably still a little dopey from the sedative with the horsey picture."

John roared at that, tossing the bloody blade across the room where it embedded itself in a hanging corpse. 

John grabbed at the radio, but before he could yell into it, the calm tones of Joseph immediately soured his Wrath.

"My dear, is does not have to be like this. Come home to us."

John paused, waiting for the reply from the Mother.

"I assume you're Joseph, yes? The Fucker in charge of this?!"

"My name is Joseph Seed, and you, my dear, you belong with us. God knows this."

"Go collect your brother, Fucker. He's at the clinic by the tracks. He's mostly unharmed. Probably a few extra bruises from rolling down a hill while unconscious, and I think his pride took a punch to the gut. Just so you know, your God is not my God. You leave my God the fuck out of this."

The radio cut out. 

John held his breath.

"John, go to the clinic. I will be joining you both shortly."

"Joining us?! But Joseph, it's not safe!"

"Are you questioning my decision, John?" 

John struggled to reply, the strain in his voice obvious.

"No, brother. Of course not. I would never question you."

"Good. I'll meet you there. Calm your Wrath, John."

"Yes, Father."

The radio cut out.

John held his Wrath to his chest. Knowing he couldn't bring it with him, he spun around, grabbing his blade from the corpse, and slashing across the neck of Gluttony. The thick, twirling blood dragging John's Wrath down into the grate as he watched.

***

We had left in the cult truck, winding our way along a bumpy path. Coming across a seemingly (hopefully) unused train track alongside a dusty road, I took the easy option - "easy" as in nobody could argue with me - and kept to the track, avoiding deer, and especially avoiding a left turn that led to cult trucks and some sort of graveyard for trains.

The world opened up to my right, letting me take in a river lower down, a boat at a pier further along, and some sort of large statue on a hill way off in the distance. A fog had fallen, cutting off the upper part, but it was definitely a person. 

Following the tracks, we came across orange cones and STOP signs still on the tracks. A train carriage still upright, the one in front crooked and off the rails. Another to the side and on its side. Barrels and rubbish strewn about, but the area had clearly been lived in. 

Hopping out the truck, I borrowed Red's handgun, scouting the area. A fire had been lit recently. A makeshift ramp led to a bed, food, a radio, even a guitar. A note from a person who had failed searching for enlightenment, and was now with those who brought horror into the valley. 

Nobody was about. The bed would do in a pinch, and the radio would be useful for when Jerome had come to enough to know what to do with it. 

I went back to the truck, shoving Red's handgun into the lovely, and convenient, thigh holster I'd...liberated from Jacob. His blade was now stuck in my bloody boot, the red handle adding to my fashion statement. I left his rifle in the truck, the handgun was a challenge enough to shoot close up.

I dragged the elderly gent out, dragging appeared the only real way to get him to help, and got him to carry Jerome's legs as we lugged him over to the bed in the train carriage. I considered leaving him in the truck, but I found the boat on the side of the river to be a better getaway. 

After gently laying the Pastor down on the mattress, the shaky hand of the elderly gentleman wrapped around my arm.

"Leave me here."

"What?! I can't just leave you here! They're after us!!"

"No, my dear friend. They're after you, perhaps our Pastor Jeffries, but they're not after me. I wish to stay here, away from all the noise, surrounded by nature."

A small tear ran down his wrinkled cheek.

"And if I die, then I shall join my beloved Margaret again."

I placed my hand around his, rubbing my thumb up and down. Feeling useless, feeling like no words could help here. The gentleman had already made up his mind.

He smiled gently. 

"And you, my friend, will certainly speed up the process of my death, and I will certainly slow down the both of you. Please. Leave me here."

Closing my eyes, I nodded. I could at least find him a little safety, though. I sat him down carefully on a lawn chair to the side of the Pastor, handing him a bottle of warm water I'd found back in the storage room at the clinic.

Clambering up the side of the overturned carriage...oh shit, that was an explosive barrel I happily hopped up on. Yikes. Me and explosives do not fucking mix. Just ask the corpses.

I found there to be a hole opened up on the top of the carriage on its side. Does it count as its side or the roof now the thing is toppled? Guess it doesn't matter. Gift horse etc.

There was no graceful entrance here. I fell in. My waving my injured, exhausted leg beneath me, thinking I'd rested my boot on a CLEARLY solid create, led to me disappearing inside said crate, and, thanks be to God, it was full of ceramic plates. Breakable ceramic plates. Just what I needed - more fucking cuts to my flesh. How the hell am I gonna have any blood left after all this? 

Either way, this place could be a home for the old man. A safe home. And a rocket launcher, which was certainly tempting to take, but, let's face it, you may as well say goodbye to my skinny ass now. It would do better as a bodyguard to the elder gentleman. He wouldn't even need to shoot it. Its existence alone was a threat.

There wasn't much in here, but there was enough supplies dotted about the track. 

Climbing up onto a hopefully more stable crate, I heard them again - The whispers. I had blamed the chill on the breeze. I was so fucking wrong. The headache...worse than normal... pounding, pounding... The blurry vision, the agony, the whole world felt like it was shifting beneath me, and that shoved me off the crate, slamming me into the broken plates, as I gritted my teeth, and gave in to the whispers.


	7. Personal.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Analise meets the Seeds - Officially. Not the blowy up, horse sedative version.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We have a little bit of a chatterooni with our characters here. Apart from dirt humper, but he's happy, let him be ☺

"FUCK!! WHERE IS SHE?! What the fuck did she give me?!"

John took a cautious step back from Jacob, knocking into the medical bed the Mother had crammed between the storage door and the wall across. 

The damage to the door made by Jacob was not enough. It might have been had there not been 4 stacks of lockers, a bookcase, 2 counters, 2 large plant pots, and 5 bags of fertiliser stacked around and on top of the medical bed. Jacob is strong, no doubt, but with his weakened condition, there was no fucking way.

At least she had called them, told them where Jacob was. True, she had placed a vicious wolf within a a tiny cage, basically mocking it by drugging it with horse sedative, but his brother was safe. One less thing to make her Atone for.

"Jake, she's not here."

"John, what the fuck did she give me?"

John perched on the edge of the medical bed, crossing his long legs.

"I don't know, Jacob. She only said it was a sedative with a...fuck...with a horse on it."

Unusually enough, Jacob was known to be the calmer of the Seed brothers. Able to use his anger in other, more useful ways. But as John watched his eldest brother stand silent, his fists clenching open and closed, a low hum vibrating as Jacob held himself in place, the range of anger consuming him from within, John knew that he'd rather not be the Mother. 

Wife or not to Joseph, she was in deep shit.

Jacob finally came down from his Wrath, making his way carefully through the devastation that had trapped him. 

"Pass me your radio. I need to speak to Joe."

"He's on his way."

"With his men? Good. When?"

"No, Jake. On his own. He wants the three of us to find her."

Jacob paused, taking the information in. What's the point of an army if you do it yourselves? 

But it was his wife. 

No.

Fuck.  
No, she wasn't.

"It's not her. It's not Caroline."

John shot up onto his feet, tripping over a sack of fertiliser, stumbling as he crashed into his eldest brother. Jacob grabbed at his arm to keep him steady.

"But that would mean that Joseph is...wrong." Their different shades of blue mixing in their disbelief.

"Yeah... Shit. " Jacob tugged a scarred hand through his hair, letting the heat of the summer evening help to distract from his anger, and for that fucking matter, his many questions.

No.1 being Who the fuck was she? 

A truck pulled up outside the clinic, carefully parking in front of the garage, and the brothers clambered over the mess to the door, John passing a spare handgun to Jacob as his was taken. 

Jacob signalled for his brother to pull back behind him, but John refused. He had just been drugged, and John couldn't tell if the sedative had worn off because Jacob being all stumbly might not be all because of the state of the clinic floor.

A calm voice left the truck before his boots hit the floor. Joseph predicting his brother's movements.

"It's just me, my brothers."

Jacob stepped out first, closely followed by John.

Joseph immediately went to his older brother, running his hand up Jacob's neck, taking in the fresh marks of pain before pulling his brother in to touch heads. 

"I'm glad you're safe, Jacob. Did you find anything out?"

Jacob threw an uneasy look at John, then pulled Joseph into the clinic, John trailing behind them.

He lead them through the mess made to trap him, and nudged Joseph into the corner, his brother's uneasy tension heavy in his shoulders.

"This isn't gonna be easy." Jacob muttered, mostly to himself, as he started a pacing route in front of Joseph.

"It's not Caroline, Joe. I forced her to the ground. She's the splitting image, no fucking doubt, but her eyes are blue, and she's gotta be early to mid 20s. I found a strip of her bloody clothing. Sent it off with John, who passed it to Faith. We'll get the results probably within the hour. Either way, we'll have our answer."

Joseph stared through Jacob. Lost in himself. Jacob quit his pacing, and placed a scarred hand on Joseph's shoulder, squeezing to bring him back. Memories never helped anybody, least of all the Seed brothers.

A quiet voice spoke through the tension.

"We still need to find her. She's...hang on, brother. You said she's the splitting image of Caroline?"

"Well, yeah. I only know of Caroline from the few pictures we have, and your tattoo." Jacob nodded to Joseph's wrist. "But it's her, no doubt. Just a lot fucking younger."

Joseph jumped up, brushing past his brothers as he stormed out into the early afternoon humidity. Jacob and John followed, raising their weapons in defence against any foolish resistance members with too much confidence to try to take out the Father.

Joseph climbed over the fence, then headed up the slope to the west, stopping finally at a tree that reached up high into the heavens.

He raised his fists, and punched the tree repeatedly. Slamming over and over almost as if to a tune. A suffering beat only known to himself.

His brothers knew to let him take this. Interrupting him during his self harm had done no good to either of them in the past. There were times he was like a feral animal.

Joseph took his time. He knew who she was. A ghost from his past, here to haunt him forever more. Even if she was left behind with his wife, and his humanity. 

It was his daughter.

Here to take her revenge.

Whether she knew it or not.

***

Caroline.

They thought I was this Caroline.

Until I wasn't.

My mind rushed back, forcing me into the train carriage, feeling my blood trickle in tiny rivers down my arms and legs.

They were close by. Shit, I didn't think they'd get there so fast. Hope County can't be that big.

I started my cumbersome climb back up the crates, careful not to split anymore skin. 

A bang, outside the trailer, and something sharp ricocheted off the edge of my carriage, causing me to fall back against the sharp edges of flesh hating ceramic. 

Fuck's sake.

Focus, Analise.

Bullets are more painful than shards of ceramic. I assume.

A voice yelled from outside, accompanied by a slamming to the carriage. It wasn't the old gentleman. It was a booming voice, loud and furious.

"Get the fuck out of there before I burn you out!!"

I scrambled up the crates, listening to the crack of a match being lit as I made it to the exit.

Blood. War. The scent of copper heavy in the air. Fucking hell, how long was I in that trance?!

A strange man wearing a green shirt, some kind of badge half stripped off the torn, bloodied front. He had weapons draped about his body. Bottles hanging off his hip. One of them held in his hand, a match being tossed away as I appeared.

No. Nonono. Shit!!! The elderly gentleman!! 

I hopped off the carriage, my focus only on the elderly man, and a weapon of some kind was slammed into my forehead, knocking me back. I stumbled back, tripping over the carriage wheel as this madman held a shotgun pointed directly at my face.

I looked past the gun. Not understanding why this man was so pissed. What had my friend done to him?!

"What did you do?!" I spat out, a glob of bloodied spit staining the earth beside us.

"What the fuck did I do?! What did YOU do to the Pastor?!"

"We helped him!"

"Bullshit!! Look at him! That old bastard guarding him didn't say a fucking word. He just sat there, covered in the Pastor's blood. And look at you, you Peggie shit! I recognise Jacob's handgun and the blade at your thigh anywhere! You're his whore!!"

"I stole it off him while he was unconscious!"

"Liar!! Nobody can take out Jacob!" 

The madman kicked me in the chest, a heavy crack and accompanying pain making me yell out. He started to slam the shotgun into my head, muttering something about "saving bullets". I lifted my arms to protect myself, and he just slammed down on them instead.

As sudden as he started, the ringing in my ears increased. I connected it to the trauma, and then it stopped, and then he stopped. A splatter of blood, and a BOOM following closely behind, and the madman fell back against the dirt, his blood spreading out as the front of his head caved in.

Little bits of bone shot out, skimming the surface of the nearby fire, and I jumped up before his blood pool could reach me.

A yell behind me. I knew it was there. I could hear the roar. I just couldn't make sense of it. 

Tires. 

That I could make sense of.

I spun around, yanking Jacob's handgun out of his thigh holster.

Johnny boy was hopping out of a black truck. Another man, too. Tortured knuckles gripped at the edge of his door as he pushed it closed. Black hair, tied back. An 'I Heart Beard' beard. White shirt, black vest - both disturbingly stained heavily with blood that ran down from his nose - black jeans, boots, and aviator shades that were tossed aside as he stepped out of the truck, like they were obscuring his vision.

The stranger fell to his knees in the dirt, arms outstretched. Almost like he didn't care about Jacob's weapon now pointed at him. He bowed down, resting his head against the dirt, muttering fuck knows what.

I stepped back. Admittedly mildly stunned.

John started to walk around the front of the truck, and I moved my aim to him. He held his arms up like he was confronting a wild animal. I knew I looked like one.

"My dear, put down the gun. You're with family now."

The fuck?!

"Fuck off, Johnny blue, and you tell your Red to quit trying to stalk behind me. I know he's there."

A brisk nod from John, and Red appeared in my peripheral vision, and then stood by John, watching his gun more than me. Red held a rifle like his but regulation black.

I nodded towards it, catching Red's eye.

"Guess that was you then?"

"Yea, pup. Couldn't let him just kill you now, could I?"

"I dunno. I did horse sedate your ass, and stock you in the storeroom like a jar of peanut butter."

Red smirked. "Water under the fucking bridge."

I liked him. He reminded me of my dad. All grit n spit. I once accidentally shot my dad with a crossbow, and he got a camera out to take a family photo. All big grin and bolt stuck in his bloody shoulder. I miss that bastard.

"So, Red. You gonna introduce me to the guy fondling the dirt, or should we just leave him be and get a beer?"

"You're gonna wanna meet him, pup."

I sighed. "Right. Fantastic."

I watched the lover of dirt for a few moments, while the brothers watched me, Red's gun still held steady.

Shit.

"Johnny boy. You know the radio code for Fall's End?"

"Yes, of course. Who do you know there?"

I yanked Red's radio from my hip.

"Nobody. I know nobody here, despite the weird ass obsession you have. But Jerome knows Fall's End, and I need him safe."

"He'll be safer with us, pup." Red spoke up, taking a step forward.

"Ah ah, saw that. One step back, Red."

He did so, a small smile on his bruised face.

"Look, everything personal, but I don't trust either of you or dirt humper here as far as I can toss your asses, so number, please."

John gave me a number, and I booped it in, keeping one eye on the weirdos three.

***

Mary May Fairgrave stood tall, a rifle slung over her shoulder, her arms crossed as she watched the men and women of Fall's End go about their business. 

She'd like to admit it was because she was a cautious leader type, looking out for her people, and she was, but today, it was because Jerome hadn't returned from his trip out west.

No radio call, no checking in. Jerome was a big boy, older than Mary May, but he was no fool. In this day and age, with all the wild animals, plus the whole war shit with Eden's Gate, hell, he had to check in on a regular basis.

Her daddy was right. Things were changing. You had to keep your friends close, and if your friends decided to join a fucking doomsday cult, then you had to cut those friends out of your life ASAP. Not like Jerome would join them, he was an actual man of God, but Mary May was fully aware of how many of these homes that surrounded Fall's End were empty and bought out because a change of choice. As in, join Eden's Gate, and lose your fucking ability to choose.

Mary May spat out into the road, hoping to release some of the anger she had grown within herself. Didn't help. 

She headed back inside, aiming to grab what remained of her secret beer supply of Leased Lager.

A hiss on Mary May's hip threw her off, almost letting the rifle slip off her back.

She held the radio to her lips, letting the rifle slide back into position.

"Jerome? You there?"

Static, then a female voice began.

"Sorry, no. Pastor got a concussion, and then bitch Red bitch slapped him to add to his concussion. He's still out. You in Fall's End?"

Mary May held the radio back from her lips, like she was trying to see the truth in this inanimate device.

"Before I answer that. You mind telling me who the fuck you are?"

"I can't, Fall's End. I got three obsessive bitches in front of me, and I'd rather not let them know yet. Besides, I'm new here."

"How the fuck am I supposed to trust you then?!"

A pause, as Mary May gripped at this only connection to Jerome.

"Good question. Alright. How about this. You like Johnny Seed?"

"What?! NO! Fuck him!!"

"Excellent. Hold your ass for a sec, Fall's End."

The radio didn't cut out, and Mary May pressed the radio close to her ear to try to hear anything. There was only one thing mentioned...

"Ain't personal, Johnny boy."

And then Mary May heard something she'd later orgasm to on quiet nights alone - A recognisable BANG and then John Seed's roar of pain, and shouts of "WHAT THE FUCK?!"

A pause on either end, then Mary May broke down into laughter, bending over at the waist as the members of Fall's End surrounded her in their curiosity.

"Please tell me that was a headshot!" She laughed.

A chuckle on the radio. "Afraid not, a bullet to the leg. He'll live, a bit bitchier, and limpier then he was before."

Mary May laughed again, Fall's End civilians around her not understanding what was going on but laughing anyways knowing that John fucking Seed was in pain. 

"It's just you and John there?"

"Nah, Fall's End. I got Red, and some other lover of earth. The Pastor is behind me. Protected. But I need someone here to pick him up. I can't stand here all day, you understand." 

"Where are you?"

"Ah shit... You know the clinic and the train grave to the north of the clinic? There's an unused train track to the... East, I think. I'd avoid the train grave. Plenty of white trucks there. Oh and I stole one of their trucks, and they have their black and shiny. We're beside tipped over carriages....shit, hang on..."

Gruff mutterings as Mary May held the radio close to her ear, enjoying this thoroughly.

"...Yeah, hi. Red said no weapons, not a one. They'll call off their men and the roadblocks...roadblocks?! Hold up..."

Mary May listened in as the stranger yelled at Red.

"Roadblocks?! You bitches got roadblocks?! Don't you care at all?..."

Mutterings from Red. Something about "protection against the weak", but he was cut off.

"Piss off, Red. Don't give me that weak bullshit. Fuck, I'm weak. Look at me! Pretty sure more than one rib is fucked up and God knows how long I can hold your weapon with a swollen wrist from that dead murderous bitch behind me."

More gruff mutterings, then the stranger returned.

"Okay, Red! For Fuck's sake, I get it..." The stranger roughed up her voice " ...we weak, you strong, you save us, you gain woman and the ability to make fire... " going back into her sweet teasing voice "...I get it. Trust me, we're gonna get along a lot better without the caveman mentality."

Mary May dropped her radio then from laughing so hard. She'd never heard anybody tease Jacob Seed to his face before. 

"...llo? Helloooo? You okay, Fall's End?"

"Yeah, yeah. Sorry, honey, it just feels fucking awesome to laugh again."

"Oh yeah, I get that. I can shoot Red if you'd lik..."

The radio cut off completely. 

Mary May clenched it, holding it forcefully to her ear. 

Silence.


	8. Assumptions.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Analise faces an inevitable probable end to her wild, whacky, and slightly death filled adventure.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oooh you guys have had enough of me this week. 
> 
> Go on, throw your donuts in vengeance. 
> 
> The sprinkles may sting but I'll eat them.
> 
> ❤

If I'm honest with myself, and I do try to be, that could have gone fucking better.

The gun was now held to my head, the metal newly stained with the fresh blood from the cut to my brow.

You see, after the teeniest tiniest threat against Jacob, he charged me. So, I did what any person would do in this situation: 

I held his gun to my head.

Yea..shit, right? I held it so forcefully that I'd cut my own brow. Please, lol on your own time.

This was never gonna end well. 

Jacob was close, close enough to snatch his gun away. But a abrupt yell from dirt humper dragged him back to their truck, and I relaxed the painful grip of Jacob's gun a touch.

Finally, the bloodied, dirt stained man stood, eyes reddened and damp, moistening the dirt on his face. He realised his state, and, just because let's add more weird as fuck to this, started to strip his vest, and then his shirt off. He tossed his vest aside, and rubbed at his face with the clean part of his shirt. 

Tossing his messy shirt to the floor, I saw the tattoos and, shit, markings on his body. 

"Please, my...child. Don't do anything foolish."

His soothing voice sang clear in my mind like the whispers that had struck me down my entire life.

Oh.

I didn't understand how it was different from the radio call, but none of this made any sense. The only people like us were in mental institutions, or kept their mouths shut tight. 

I dragged my eyes from his, and looked him up and down, curious to a fault. Red tried to step forward again, and I pushed harder on his gun, causing more blood to roll down my cheek. 

Red stepped back, keeping to John's side as his brother leaned against the truck, a hand wrapped around a cloth gripped against his injured leg.

"I assume you're Joseph Seed. The voice from the radio?"

"That's correct. God has brought us together at last."

No.

"I told you not to bring my God into this."

Joseph took a step forward, his boots squishing against the mud.

"You are a child of faith." He nodded to my items of faith, now barely recognisable. "We see your Christian faith, and your Jewish faith. Please, we are of the same."

"Usually I'd agree with that. But I'm pretty fucking certain you're worshipping the devil, and he's not on my Hanukkah or my Christmas list." 

"It doesn't have to my painful, my child. Please, consider your actions for a moment."

I lifted the radio back up to my lips. "I will. After the Pastor is safe." 

I spoke into the radio, keeping the gun firmly at my temple. "Fall's End, you there, babe?" 

"Thank fuck!! I was so worried. What happened?! Are you okay??"

"No problem here, Fall's End. Just skipped a step. You on your way?" 

I pushed the radio closer to my ear, taking comfort in the sounds of a ratty, old gear shift being forced into fuck knows what.

"Sure, honey. About five minutes out. Hold tight."

"No weapons, right?" I winked at Jacob.

"No. I wish...just fucking be safe, okay?! What's your name anyways?"

I opened my mouth to reply, but was still staring at the Seeds as they all leaned forward. That shut me the fuck up.

"Errr..." honey" is fine for now, Fall's End. Trust me, I don't get it either, but I'd rather not say in front of these...I wanna say disciple wannabes."

"Not a problem, honey. Kick John if you get the chance." She laughed, cutting the radio off.

I smiled at John, as sweet as I could, then nodded to Jacob. "Do me a solid, Red."

Red smirked, missing the scowl directed at him from John. 

I brushed the antenna against my thumb. Twanging it in circles with all the young adult impatient wonder of a 22 year old, and making sure I was still stood between them and the Pastor. 

Noticing Joseph was looking me up and down, I caught his eye. 

"Caroline. Who was she to you?"

Joseph smiled, tired eyes shone bright as he took me in.

"She was my wife. Taken too young. We barely had a life together."

Fucki...Okay.

"I'm sorry for your loss. But I'm not her."

"I know you're not, my child."

"So, what? You wanna keep me cos I look like her, stuff me, and put me on a pedestal?" Bit harsh, but none of this was easy.

"No. No, of course not. We want to love you."

I opened my mouth to reply in the fucking negative when I heard a truck grinding across the metal tracks in the distance.

Only John and Jacob twisted round, because let's add to the list of 'Weird shit dirt humper does'.

I caught the gaze of the stunning blond woman in the driver's seat. Her hair was tied back in a no nonsense bun, ratty but comfortable blue shirt, with some sort of advertisement on a t-shirt below. Classic blue jeans, and not as classic thigh holster completed the look. This must be Fall's End. 

She stopped the busted up truck just beside the Seed's classy truck, and spun it around in a 180, neatly catching the back of the classy's assy, to my amusement, and John's horror.

Hopping out, she tossed a wink at me, and a solidly aimed spitball in John's direction, neatly hitting him in the cheek.

One hell of a Montana kiss. 

I swear I would marry her if I could based on that one glorious entrance alone. 

She teased a passing glance at the other brothers, and hopped up beside me, risking a glance at the gun at my head.

"Well, nobody said you don't go all out, babe." Fall's End kissed me on the cheek, causing me to buzz all over, and I grinned at her sass and nodded behind me towards the train.

Fall's End whistled, and an older man fell out of the ratty truck, dodging the Seeds completely, and scurried into the train. 

I needed my focus on the Seeds, so I could only hear them swear at the corpses. Mentionings of "Deputy..." and . .. "of his fucking league." With what sounded like a boot hitting flesh.

A few moments past as they muttered back and forth. 

I noticed something then. Red. His hand was...oh SHIT. 

I slowly shook my head at him, taking his gun with my movement.

He smiled, eyes focused entirely on mine as his fingers danced the can can of certain doom.

Our meaningful silent conversation was on hold as a loud screech of metal came from Jerome's train. A minute later, Fall's End and the worried man came out carrying the Pastor on a metal pallet to their truck.

"Wait." I spoke up, as the three allies were in the process of passing at my side.

"Red. How many?"

Silence amongst my allies as Jacob chuckled at me.

"Don't humour me, Red. I like you the most out of the devil cheerleaders, and you're not to bullshit me, okay? How many?"

Jacob eased back into that smile, nodding his head gently as he raised his hand in the HOLD position.

"Three dozen, pup."

"One dozen up above on that cliff, and the rest scattered at base level with close quarters weapons."

"Ding ding, sweetheart. All focused on the target."

"And "target" being my fabulous ass, huh? With that fog shit?"

"Correct again, kid. With that fog shit."

"Can't I just go with you guys? I don't wish to sit next to my bad, blood blue boy, and He wish he fucking knew me, but I'll sit beside you. You can even take your gun back. Shove it into the side of my head and everything. "

"You sure you ain't gonna attack me, pup?"

"Oh, Red. You, me, the Olson twins, and all three dozen of your men know that's an option I'm fully willing to take. I think you're okay with that, though. You enjoy the fight."

Red laughed, holding his side like he..might have cracked a rib when he rolled down that hill. Whoopsie.

"Okay, pup. How we gonna do this shit?"

"Like molasses."

"So, nice and fucking easy..."

"Ah, ah, Red. If I wished for nice and fucking easy, I would have said "Like Johnny boy."" Casting a teasing wink at Johnny be bloody as he snarled at me.

"They go first. Then ten minutes sat on our asses, making small talk about how creepy you all are, and then I'll pass you the weapon myself. Like fucking molasses. Anything else, and bye bye my skinny ass, and your fascination and/or obsession dies with me."

Jacob began to shake his head, a frown settling back in his features, when a radio buzzed on John's hip.

We all turned towards him as he lifted his bloody hand to his radio. 

"..Results...Wilson...Cas...lise...Carl...An..a mat...%...Praise...ther."

An abrupt laugh from Joseph almost made me drop my everything. That didn't appear to be a good thing. 

Ooooookkkkkaaayyy. 

The three brothers started laughing, Jacob and John grabbing at each other around the arms, and slapping at each other's backs as Joseph crouched down in a ball and started to pray against his hump dirt again. 

"Errrm, you guys, please continue enjoying yourselves, and we'll just 'head...."

"My apologies, my darling. Just some wonderful news." And yes, that was John. I know, right? President of the I h8 Anaweese cwub (NO GiRls allowwed), was calling me "DARLING". 

How many warm bagels just rolled out of that radio and into his pants?

"Right. So, can we go?"

Jacob spoke up, still holding his assumed injured side. "No fucking way. But..." He nodded to his brothers. "Those three can go IF you tell us your name."

John nodded, looking up at his brother. Joseph raised his head from his crouch. 

This was important to them. 

"Same rule applies as molasses. They go, ten minutes of small bitch talk, and then I'll tell you my name. However, if it's not what you want to hear, you gonna let me go?"

"No, my child. One way or another, you will walk with us through Eden's Gate."

Fuck. Whatever.

"Fine. I'm done pissing about. Fall's End, go on."

Fall's End kissed me on the cheek, buzzing included, then they shoved the Pastor in the back seat as fast as they could. Tossing the metal pallet away, they drove off back down the tracks leaving me with the three piouskerteers. 

I lifted the radio up. Ten minutes.

"So, boys. What are you gonna do to me?"

Joseph stood, clasping at his beads hanging from his wrist. 

"With either result, the Cleansing will come first. Then, we will pass you to John, who will go forward with your Confession. You will Confess your secrets, John will discover your Sins, and then, if you are willing, you will be free to join us to walk through Eden's Gate"

John muttered angrily after Joseph announced this, pulling Jacob down to whisper in his ear. Jacob looked back at Joseph, and shook his head at John.

Not at all ominous.

Fuck. 

"I've already been Baptised, Seed. As a child."

"I'm afraid that's not enough. You haven't been reborn. Pain is a part of this, yes. We'll be at your side throughout."

Fuckety Fuck.

8 minutes.

"What about you, Jacob? Did you go through this shit?"

"Nah, kid. I'm the soldier. The protector. Born to protect my family, and create the strong for the new world."

"I like ya, Jacob. I do. But caveman mentality...Where do us women appear in that? What is it like in Eden's Gate? Bonk woman on head, drag to cave, have way with her, make more soldiers?"

Joseph replied to that question. "Women are strong, too. They can become our Chosen. Yes, some females will have children, they will have lives. They will be happy. We will all be one family."

Not terrible... Still ringing that ominous bell. 

7 minutes.

"And the people out here. I haven't heard much. Just seen a fuck ton of bodies. Are they gonna suffer too?"

"Those who are unsuitable to join our family, they will suffer from God's cleansing of the earth. The end of the world is coming, my child. Many will die, and we will live. Together. However this turns out, whatever your name is, you will join us. We will drag you through those gates if we have to."

Oh shitty shit shit shit. 

I shifted my arm, checking the time in the radio, and that's when I felt a deep pain in the hand holding the gun. It was still injured. Come on, arm. 6 minutes, and you can fall off for all I care. 

***

Jacob saw her flinch, eyes skirting to her swollen wrist. 

Don't move.  
Hold. 

He kept his fist in the correct position, and tapped John on the shoulder to distract her. 

John nodded, anticipating. Nudging himself into standing position with pain that consumed him, he took a step, another, and then flickered his eyes to her right.

Jacob was right in his assessment, as her suspicious nature caused her to twinge, just a touch.

A quick signal, and the arrow went neatly into her thigh.

But, shit. 

His gun...The Bliss was supposed to..NO!

***

"Oh fuck?!!?! What the motherfucki...Jacob!!?"

Jacob suddenly shot forward, trying to reach his gun still pressed against my head. 

I crouched down, yanking his blade out my boot, admittedly a little unsteady on my feet as I swung it back and forth (as professionally as I could while on the green fog) towards the red and green blur of a familiar muscled man.

I hit something, and the blur grunted. 

I swung again, and the blur knocked his blade out of my hand. 

I pulled his trigger, and the blur vanished.


	9. What is in a name?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Analise finds herself in a position with the Seeds where there's no way out. Not like that would stop the Author from trying to find a way out, mind you.

Joseph held her to his chest. He couldn't believe it. It had been so long. 

His daughter. 

She had to be.

He was almost certain of it.

They just needed her name.

Of course, they can only learn that once she awakens from the bullet that had caught her just above her ear. 

Jacob had knocked her hand enough that she had only managed to injure herself. A shirt torn off Jacob was now pushed against her skull covering her bloodied area around her right ear until the medic arrived. 

They didn't think she wanted to kill herself. The Bliss had an affect on her but, like Joseph at the beginning on his interaction with Bliss, it didn't turn her limbs into jelly, or her mind to unconsciousness. It made her calmer, even able to witness hallucinations, just not as heavy or for as longer a time as many of the others.

Like him.

Like her father.

Joseph hadn't forgotten, of course, what he had done to her. That the last time he had held her in his arms, cradling her to his chest, it was to take her life. 

To Sacrifice her.

But here she was. Alive. Brought back to him on the Eve of the End of all the Sinful world.

So he could save her.

It was meant to be.

Now he held her in his arms, Joseph started to notice her features that connected them. The cheekbones were sharp like his. Her nose was a touch longer than Caroline's. And how he wished to see her eyes this close up. Blue. Forever blue. Like his. Like his brothers. To firmly connect her to them. 

A voice ran through the tears Joseph was unaware he had shed. Jacob.

"Joe, the medics are here. One is with John, but you gotta let the others take over."

Joseph nodded, aware of their need to help but...He gently laid her down on the grass. Dragging his gaze away, Joseph found the medics.

"Please, do everything you can. This young woman means the world to the Project. To all of us. God is by your side." 

The head doctor nodded, his junior doctor behind him preparing the supplies.

"Yes, Father. Of course. Thank you."

Jacob placed a hand on Joseph's shoulder, pulling him back a touch as the medics got to work. 

"She's gonna be okay, Joe. The skull is thicker than it appears."

"Yeah...yeah.." Joseph shook his head, blowing the cobwebs away. "Yes, brother. You're right. She's tough. She's got a bit of you in there, as well."

A warm smile decorated Jacob's lips, reaching his eyes, and lighting him up as he looked over at his niece. 

"Yeah. She's a tough kid."

"She likes you, brother."

"I think she has a type of military training, that's probably it."

"Don't doubt yourself, Jacob. She's attached herself firmly to you."

Jacob looked over at his younger brother, gripping a little tighter at his arm.

"She's been fed lies, Joe. Most likely about you." 

Jacob stepped back, gaze shifting over to the sun, tracking its movements. "We need to make tracks."

Joseph agreed, looking over at his daughter being treated before turning to his younger brother, who was currently perched on the edge of a rock, his jeans torn open to give access to see to his leg.

"John, we need you. How are you feeling?"

John looked up past the medic, smiling cautiously as he looked up at his brothers.

"I'm fine, Joseph. Thank you. She missed anything vital, and the bullet went right through. What can I do?"

"We need to make haste. Gather your men. Jacob bring who you have here." Joseph looked back at his daughter before continuing. "We don't have much time."

***

Warmth.

Warmth was moving.

In.

Out.

In.

Out.

Shaking all...no, just the warmth was shaking.

Was I shaking? 

Blood smell. Copper. Ash in the air.

Earthy. Blood. More blood. Lotta blood.

Bruuum bruuuuuuum...

Go back to sleep.

You're dead. 

You could see before.

Now the universe was black and blood, there was b..blood.

Soft voices. Gentle movements.

Hair fluuuufy. 

No, I'm not fluffy.

Against my ear, sommit fluffy. 

Metaly.

Gentle fingers.

Not mine. No, mine were together in a clump. In a monster of ten tingly fingerlys.

That were currently petting over the fluffy.

Noooooo, someone was pulling at my fingerlys. Why?? 

Up, and up, and wrapped in warmth.

Warmth is nice. 

Sleep now, dummy.

Wake up, fluffy.

You don't belong here.

***

Fluffy?

Did she just call his rabbit's foot "fluffy"?

Jacob held her taped wrists up to his collarbone as she zoned out again. She was curled up in his lap. They hadn't started like this at the beginning of the journey. She was across from him at the start, her bandaged head leaning back against the car seat. But as the drive went on, shifting past roadblocks, and twists and turns of the road, she had fallen across in her sleep, then slowly awoken, on and off, and eased her way into Jacob's lap. 

She looked so young like this. Like a teenager rather than an apparent 22 year old. A kid covered in blood. Capable of killing his men. No fear. Just resilience.

His niece.

His blood.

Fucking hell.

Joseph was supposed to sit beside her in the truck, but he had muttered some bullshit about "Being within his own mind...Listening for the Voice etc" and was now sat in the front of the truck, beside the driver, head bowed. But if Joseph was fully invested in prayer, and not glancing back in the mirror every couple of minutes, then Jacob would eat his fucking shirt. 

Joseph's daughter was currently curled up on his brother's lap. Jacob didn't have any kids, that he knew of, but if his kid was curled up on someone's else's lap after 22 or so years of not being with them...fuck, it wouldn't happen. Jacob would never stop staring, never not want to know their entire lives. 

What he missed out on.

She was still so young, her life ahead of her. Now destined to be the Father's daughter. Titled that forever.

Too God damn much. 

Especially after not knowing of their existence. Especially since she's not even aware yet that they are her family. Jacob ran his fingers through her soft blond hair, catching on the blood still stained there. 

She's gonna have a tough time of it.  
Especially since learning that Joseph Sacrificed her.

Jacob would protect Joseph from her obvious rage when she finds out.

Jacob's eyes flickered down, mulling over his heavily bandaged pup curled up on his lap, knowing then that he would protect his niece from everything else.

***

Urrrrrrgggggghhhhhhhhhh

Oh damn. What the fuck?! One hell of a hangover.

The sun was out. You know how I could tell? Because everything was white. And this was before I opened my eyes.

So this was either one hell of a heaven, or I had somehow drunk enough to be laid out flat on my ass behind...wait. Behind what? Driving, I remember the driving...My hands were tied together. That's not regular driving habits. There was a man. He's...they...oh SHIT?!

I forced myself into a sitting position, cursing the pain rushing through my body like a raging river. Now I get it. I couldn't open my eyes because something was tied around them. 

Why would they do that?! They know I'm new here. Where was here? Where were they? I used the only thing available to me, the only thing I probably shouldn't use because it most likely got me into this mess: My mouth.

"Oi, Fuckers!!"

Heavy boots stamped in something squishy. A large shade crossed against my blindfold.

"Hey, pup. How you feelin?"

"Oh not half fucking brilliant, Red. So, I shot myself, yes?"

"Yup Yup. Not the best idea. Pretty impressive, just didn't end that well."

"I have a heartbeat which means I can still cause light mayhem. Is fine."

Hands under my arms, and I was lifted, leaning against Red as he shifted me tightly to his side.

"Not anymore, pup. We have the upper hand now."

The blindfold was removed, causing me to hiss as the light cursed my eyeballs...

Oh FUCK!!!

We were in a clearing, water just beyond. Sun lit up everything around us. Lace hanging from trees. Metal signs of Eden's Gate dotted about. 

The smell of thick cut grass, the flickering of candles, the twittering of the birds, the warmth of the sun all faded away when what was before me was taken in.

Pastor Jerome Jeffries, awake, pissed off, and battered. Even his bullet proof vest was split up the side.

Fall's End, black eye, cut up her cheek, holding a bandaged arm to her stomach.

Groups of men and women I didn't recognise, wearing civilian clothing. Some crying, others holding hands. 

All beaten. All bloody.

All surrounded.

Eden's Gate. Fucking dozens of them, if not more. All different types, different clothing, different looks. All with various weapons, twitching in their arms. I caught them in my peripheral vision. I could feel them behind us. Boats in the water beyond, snarling of wolves (?) in the vicinity. All staring at Jacob...at me. 

And directly in front of that group was John Seed, injured leg lifted slightly, a shark like grin on his 'doesn't he fucking know it' handsome face.

And Joseph Seed. Shirtless. His toned arms raised towards us.

Staring right at me. 

I could fight against Jacob with everything I had. I could. Just keep fighting. Never stop. Not until either one of us was a bloody mess on the floor.

But them...But now...No way. Not even if I had an army of me.

They had innocents. 

My light mayhem was over before it began.

***

This was John's time to prove himself to Joseph. He watched his niece lean heavily against Jacob, clearly a little shaken from what and who they had brought together.

The entirety of Fall's End, and surrounding areas.

It had been quite a pleasure to chase down Mary May. They hadn't quite made it to Fall's End, even tried to call for backup. Like that would stop the 4 truck motorcade and an Eden's Gate helicopter with gun turrets. They fell like a toy truck, wheels spinning, Mary May cursing up a storm.

John had truly enjoyed the look on her face when he had shot her in the arm. 

Joseph didn't want any of them dead. Injured, fine. Their injuries were minor compared to others. Besides, John had been shot in the thigh. Anyone complained about the pain they had suffered while they had been dragged out of their pathetic, Sinful lives, you can bet John would remember their names to make them hurt so much more later on when they were in his grip. 

Fucking Sinners.

And now...Now they had the Father's daughter.

They were so certain. 

Threaten one, and that would be enough. They didn't really need all of Fall's End. But Joseph insisted they were running out of time, especially since Jacob had taken out the weak Deputy. 

John watched as Joseph stepped forward. He didn't need to see his face, he knew what was in his mind. 

A gripping silence as Joseph spoke. Even nature itself paused in anticipation.

"My child. God has truly brought us together. Now is the time to willingly tell us your name, and we'll finally have our answer."

A gloom fell over her face. Her eyes flickered up to Jacob, and then over her new friends, and then the civilians. She clearly didn't have to look at the Project. 

There was no way out of this. 

"What are you gonna do to them?" She asked, tugging her arm out of Jacob's grip. It was sharp, and quick, but Jacob stood by, not holding her anymore despite her threatening stance.

"They will go through the Cleansing, and then they will be split off as we decide what to do with them. Usually, God has a plan. But with the Deputy passed, and with you here, I have a feeling God has another plan in motion."

"Why me? I'm not even from here!" She took a step forward, wobbling slightly. Jacob took a step of his own. 

John knew that Jacob would guard his niece, but he also knew that he would protect her. Family meant a lot to the Seed brothers, even though family must sometimes be punished. 

John knew that pain personally.

***

Joseph took a step forward, breathing slowly as he smiled at his broken daughter ahead of him. 

Her eyes... They were his. What a gift. A magnificent gift. It had been so long. So long, and now God had seen to bring her back to life, to show Joseph that He knew what Joseph had sacrificed for Him. 

She stood still, Jacob close behind, as Joseph stepped closer, arms raised with his Rosary dangling off his wrist, caught in the breeze. His daughter's eyes were wary, watching him but her tipped chin to the side showed she'd rather not be. Joseph reached his daughter, lowering his arms, staring into his blue eyes currently watching him with distrust.

"Please, my child. Your name. Your name and we will save all these people behind me. Every single one will live. They will be brought into our family. We will love them, and eventually, they will return their love."

She gazed past him, either side, seemingly taking in the faces of Fall's End. A look of worry touched her features, then fury, then a rush of conflict. When she returned her gaze to his, all he saw was defeat.

***

"My name is Analise Tao."

I hated this.

But what shook me more was the roar of gratitude as dirt humper raised his arms to the sky, staring up into the sun. 

I wish it fucking blinded him.

A heavy set of hands landed on my shoulders, squeezing as I looked back to see Red grinning and nodding his head. Looking forward, Blue simply grinned, not exactly reaching his eyes as he leaned an arm on Fall's End shoulder, causing her to flinch with pain. I tried to step forward, past dirt humper, but Red anticipated once more, holding my shoulders in a death grip. Red musta nodded or something to John because John rolled his eyes and took his arm off her shoulder. Red appeared to be my only ally of the three brothers.

Of the guards, they just watched. As did the innocents. My guess was that the brothers were the only people who knew of the secret that they have yet to share with anybody. Including me. Jerks.

Joseph finally lowered his arms. I thought (hoped) the sun had blinded him as he blinked his eyes while staring at me, but he had actual fucking tears in his eyes. Please, add more weird as fuck to this. 

"You are my gift. It is my honour to meet your acquaintance. My darling baby girl. My daughter."

Before I could WHAT THE FUCK out of that, Joseph raised his hands and gripped my upper arms, and the world of blue skies, green grass, and the air scented by life disappeared.

Red. Fire. Whipping around me. The smoke. I couldn't breathe because of it. Everyone who was ahead of me was gone. But they were there. Skeletons. Ashes. Their empty eye holes staring at me. Blaming me.

The water beyond now tinged red with reflections from the sky. Oil sites across the once gleaming, sparkling blue water were lit with fire, leaving boats of death in their place. 

Booming across the sky of "Analise, sweetheart, open your eyes." Recognisable. I wanted to leave, away from hell, but I wanted to stay here. I was shown this for a reason, after all.

I daren't turn around. Knowing that only death lay behind me. Wanting to watch these men and women, that had succumbed to hell, that had TRUSTED me... I wanted to be here. Force myself to stare. The End was near, and this was my choice now.

I had to save them.

More booming from the sky. Panicked. No more "sweetheart"s, only swearing, and my body throbbing from what they were doing to my physical form. 

Eventually, a voice boomed through, clearing the sky into a more pleasant blue. It wasn't theirs. It belonged to my father. 

Not Joseph Seed, never him, but Roman Tao - The man who had raised me.

"Darling, Ana. Wake up, my love. You're late for school. It is not your time to enter God's embrace. Your mother and I will be waiting for you, my baby girl. Forever."

I woke, dragged from future hell, and straight back into present hell.

Copper. I couldn't breathe again, but that was only because there was too many people surrounding me, blocking out the clear blue skies. Opening my eyes, I looked up at recognizable blue eyes. Joseph's blood dripped from his nose and onto my shirt where it clashed with mine. 

I gazed up at him, fully aware of how we were connected. My father. But only by blood. 

I'll take that I was now covered in the both of ours as a sign. 

Joseph Seed may be blood, but he will NEVER be my father.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So here we have the tantalising answer that leaves you with more questions. Author has the answers to those tucked away in her noodle, don't worry. You just have to wait a week, and then maybe another week, and possibly a third week.
> 
> ...
> 
> I know you like Author, and also that you don't wish to kick Author.


	10. A regretful want.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Analise has to make light conversation with her newly found blood family, and that leads to having to make a decision that nobody should be forced to make. 
> 
> Witness first-hand John's bitchiness, and Jacob's protective streak... Okay, it's like third-hand John's bitchiness. But definitely first-hand Jacob's protective streak. You know I dig that shit. I promise I have John being bitchy scheduled for two Chapters away. You're gonna love it :)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hiiiii ❤
> 
> Okay, we have Analise. Pretty sure she'll be coming to an end soon, so hold onto your butts. 
> 
> I'll wait.
> 
> There we go :) I'm gonna finish Anali, and then I have a request for a different game, and then bring on the next Fanfic. Should I go the soft route first or the violent route first? 
> 
> Either way, it'll be a blast. I love writing, and especially for my incredible fan x 
> 
> Comment all you wish, my fridge appreciates having one side of it covered in kindness.

As Joseph's older brother, Jacob had seen this type of event before, but not like this. Jacob remembered the excitement as children. How Joe had waited until late at night, crammed in their neat, broken down bedroom, and whispered non-stop about the Voice, and how this was the change they were waiting for. Jacob hadn't seen Joe when the Voice had struck him for the first time, but he had seen it years later after the brothers had reunited. Jacob was shocked, of course. Believing in the fire and spirit in his younger brother that would push them all forward to accomplish great deeds against a hateful world, yes, but to see him collapse to his knees, covered in blood was an altogether different experience. An outright fucking shock.

Now this was first hand. Witnessed. His niece may have had whispers before, but now Joe had connected them together. Would it get worse? Did she need to see so much horror? All those years Jacob had spent out alone at war, the dust whipping at his cheeks, or at the hospital, trying to distract from the stench and the peeling away of his flesh by clumsy nurses, or even the sticky, mosquito infected nights on the humid Georgia streets... All of it, and his mind was on his brothers. 

The memory of the shift in character of his kid brother, going from excitement of this experience with God, to waking up covered in sweat, screaming for Jacob to comfort him because the future involved skin peeling rapidly off a screaming woman, or a herd of cows were on fire, their cries low and desperate as they failed to escape the hell around them, or a family of skeletons... And when Joe had started to describe the tiniest of the skeletons... Fuck. It was all Jacob could do to not stuff his ears with stuffing from his bedding. 

Jacob made a promise to protect his brothers. 

Because Joseph didn't ask for this. And to have such a Vision, and the continuing nightmares at a young age... That shit would fuck up an adult. 

Whatever Joe had done to his daughter woke something in her. Analise collapsed to the dirt, her entire tiny broken frame shaking like she had a war going on deep within. Joseph had held her, whispering muttered prayers as his nose had dripped fresh blood upon his daughter's body. 

Jacob had slammed down onto his knees beside them, no prayers escaped his lips, just words. Hopefully comforting. Nothing got through enough. Her body was slamming vigorously into Joseph's, into the ground beneath them. She fought everything. She fought nothing. Then finally, she had stopped. The fresh blood from her nose and wounds opened by the recent movement, being the only evidence to whatever the fuck had just taken place.

A moment of comfort and then pain flashed across her features, and Analise opened those blues of hers to Joseph. Jacob could feel the anger from his place beside them. The peace of Joseph had nothing on the fury within Analise. And just as it had shown itself, it was gone, tossed into the dirt beside them and forgotten.

***

Joseph held fast, but I squirmed my way out of his grip. Jacob was here, too. John a little further back. As Jacob helped to pull me up, his thumbs attempting and failing to leave a soothing track up my arms, we left Joseph in the dirt beside us. I glanced over at Fall's End, the Pastor, and the innocent people, grateful to see the life back in their bodies, even if their eyes held more than suspicion and wariness than before.

My whole body felt like shit. I could feel the cooling trails of blood dripping down from various cuts, the more noticeable pain from beside my ear easing its way into the pounding headache that had shown up from nowhere.

Pulling away from Red, I took a few steps into the clearing, wishing nobody was here to witness my experience. Joseph admitting he was my father, and the trippy... well, trip I took. It was all a little batshit.

Feeling Red's presence behind me, I wrapped my arms around my twitchy body, wishing it was my father, my REAL father, holding me instead. Instead, I was here. Surrounded by possible future friends who could maybe love me, terrified strangers who now watched me with nothing kind in their eyes, and enemies who brought fear and horror to all of the above. 

And the Seeds...who would never leave me alone again. 

I looked away. Up and up, watching as the breeze yanked at the leaves on the trees, then lost myself in the deep blue of the sky. Not a cloud. Nothing at all. And yet, everything. The sky held, the sky hid everything. Blue, not red. Not yet. Hell was coming. I know this now. I HATED that I know this now. 

Someone was speaking behind me. Give me a fucking minute.

The light touch on my arm insisted. It was Joseph, but no alternate hell was shown. I couldn't understand that. What, he just flipped a fucking switch?!

I reluctantly shifted my gaze away from the sky, the edges of my vision still holding tightly, and held his eyes. 

"Now you see, my daughter."

Fuck.

"I'm assuming you have shelter, yes?"

"Bunkers. Three of them. Connected together deep beneath the earth. We shall we safe there. Together."

I looked back at the innocents, and my friends. "Only if they join us, too. No deaths. No fucking with their minds. Let them live."

John spoke up from behind, agitated. "That's not how we do things, you can't just..."

Joseph shifted his gaze to John, a calmness that held something darker fogged his features as I watched. John stopped talking, dropping his gaze to the dirt like a little boy in trouble.

This was the first time I felt sorry for John. Older brother, perhaps, but still a brother. As in, fucking protective, not forcing John to feel like a child. Everyone should be able to voice their opinions, even if we disagree with them.

Joseph looked back at me, a jaw clenched as he considered. "They shall go through the Cleansing, then through Confession and Atonement. They will be marked. It will be their choice how much pain they'll go through, and then they will take their place alongside us."

I shifted, glancing over at the innocents, and then at Jerome and Fall's End. They disagreed. Clearly. But they didn't see what I saw. They didn't see their death. The death of this world. They'll fight me on this, but at least they'll fight with blood running through their veins, even if they do lose some of that blood to whatever the fuck the Seeds will do to them.

"Yes. Okay. Save them. Please."

***

YES.

John buzzed at the word.

HIS word.

The pain from his leg and the shame from his brother got caught in the breeze and fucked off into the atmosphere. Now it was his turn to impress the Father. Analise finally saw what Joseph did. They'd still need to take over and Reap the rest of Hope County, but this was certainly an excellent start. 

John bounced from foot to foot, moving closer to his eldest brother. Jacob caught his eye, but kept still, keeping his muscular arms folded, and watching the meeting between Joseph and daughter with a stern frown across his eyes, his lips as straight as a ruler. Something bothered Jacob.

Maybe Jake wanted more Weak v Strong to come forward. Now these Sinners were kept meat. Stuffed in the back of the freezer for 7 years. It would take John time to break the few dozen people before him, and even more time for Jacob and co to bring out the strength in them. They were protected now, by the daughter of Joseph. They could only do so much.

A question from Analise brought John back into the conversation. 

"How did you know I'm your daughter?"

Jacob took a step forward. "That would be me, pup. I found your blood on a piece of cloth back at the red farmhouse. I wanted an answer on the 'Mother' question, so we sent it to Faith for forensics. Amongst the blood of my men, they found yours, and connected you directly to Joseph. You ain't his wife, you're his kid. If the fact that you're half her age, and your eyes don't match, then the blood certainly told us truth. The visions you have that connect you and the Father are simply the icing on the fucking cake."

John hopped on the balls of his feet beside his eldest brother, happy in this confirmation. There would be no squirreling her way out of this one. She would try, no doubt. Already using her status as 'daughter of the Father' to save her pathetic friends. 

John eased his way past Analise, listening to the many questions she was asking Joseph about the Cleansing, and started to saunter in front of the Sinners, a light limp the only pain he'd show. He stopped in front of Jerome, running his finger down the edge of the Pastor's split vest, ignoring the filthy looks from behind. John caught the gaze of the Pastor, and stared him down.

"Ready to be Cleansed again, Jerome?"

"I am already a man of God, John. As are many people here. We don't wish to be cleansed by you, or anybody else."

John glanced back at Analise and Joseph, Joseph now gesturing towards the tattoo of Caroline on his wrist as the 22 yr old daughter merely looked away. John couldn't tell if she cared for the mother she had never known. 

"The daughter of the Father requests that all your lives be spared. Usually, we'd disagree. But, she is one of us. Analise Seed... Got a nice ring to it, don't you think, Pastor Jerome?"

"I think that would be her choice to make, John. I doubt young Analise would make that choice based on your actions alone."

John raised a hand to strike Jerome, but a grip on his raised arm caused him to look back. Joseph had walked calmly and quietly over, anticipating his younger brother's Wrath. 

"Heed your Wrath, John. We are all family now. This is a day of celebration, not anger."

"Yes, Father." John muttered. John ignored the smirks of the Sinners and headed back to Analise as Jacob brushed heavily by to chat and probably make arrangements with Joseph.

She didn't smirk like the others at John's shame. She simply wobbled a touch, probably stunned by the events and tired from all the blood dripping down her body in rivets.

John held his arm out, giving his niece the option to lean on him, and Analise nodded before taking him up on his offer. He felt the tremble within her, but knew that was not fear.

"So." His niece started, a twinge of accent she had carefully tried to hide seeping out. Must be the exhaustion. "You're in charge of bobbing us up and down like ducks?"

"It's a fairly family event. With you, especially. It'll most likely be the Father, or _your_ father that will be, how you say, bobbing you up and down like a duck. Your Cleansing will be private, bar the need to hurry, so only myself, Jacob, and Faith. The rest, however... it depends on time limits, but yes, it'll be myself."

"And afterwards?"

"That will hurt. Once again, with you, it'll be a family event. I doubt the Father wishes for agony, so I suggest just admitting your Sins. No lies. Just be honest with us, my dear niece. There will be no judgement. Not from myself, or the Father."

John felt the flutter as Analise considered his words. Pain was always difficult, but John doubted Joseph wished for his own daughter to suffer needlessly. Just enough. Most likely, the Sins would be tattooed, rather than carved. They did try not to let the younger adults suffer as terribly as those that were older in life, and therefore more likely to be dripping in their Sins.

"Will the others suffer horrifically?" 

"They will go through what God deems necessary." John glanced over at Analise, just as turned her gaze away from the Sinners to look at him, her hand tightening on his arm.

"Is there anything I can do to lessen their sufferings?"

John smiled, but only inside of himself, keeping his confident exterior front and centre. 

Another battle had been won. 

"An apology for shooting me couldn't hurt, my dear Analise." He leaned forward, kissing her bloody brow. Knowing, with satisfaction, that the blood now on his lips, had just a touch of himself.

***

Oh fuck.

Low blow, bitch.

I let go of his firm tattooed arm, his stench of cologne waving ta-ta.

Just do it once, Analise. Just the one time. Kick him if it doesn't like it.

Staring up at him, I timidly (fake) brushed a lock of blonde fringe away from my sticky brow, letting it rest on my bandage next to my ear. 

"John. I shouldn't have shot you. I was distraught at the death of my friend, and I wasn't able to take it out on the monster who killed him. I was caught up in the moment, and I used the nearest..." Don't say pissy bitch, Analise "fleshy human who I was mad at as my target practice, in anger towards something I couldn't prevent, and to appease a new ally. I sincerely apologise, and I hope that, in time, you will forgive me."

Alright, Anali. Nailed it. John stared at me, watching my eyes closely. I kept my vision steady, not looking in either direction, not twitching. Full on lie mode. 

It worked. Hopefully. John smiled, his blue eyes softening as reached down to grip at my hand. 

But he deserves a.. Sort of apology. More like a light punch to the shoulder than a full on, seconds away from tears apology. 

"Thank you, my dear niece. That was a respectable apology. Very well done."

I hate being spoken down to like a child.

No wonder dirt humper looked at John liked that.

Now I know that I got my calm exterior, but hell interior, from Joseph.


	11. Alike.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Analise goes through the unwanted holy moly baloney bath time with Fucker, fishie, n friends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Good whathaveyou ☺
> 
> Only approx 2-3 more Chapters left, I tell myself repeatedly. And I'm totally buzzing because I FINALLY found a possible friend who's on here and Twitter so hiiiiiiiiiiii gurrrrl ❤ No, I don't usually speak like that but I'm full of sherbet. 
> 
> Do you guys come here mostly for the story or the notes? It's a shame they don't have a tag section for the notes. This is where an Author can really express their true batshit. There's no off switch for Author. Author is solar powered. Author is sherbet powered. Author is love of biting powered. 
> 
> Never ending.
> 
> Horrific thought, really. But that's okay, because Author is working on smut (for other Fics obvs), and that makes everybody like Author. Unless it's woman on woman action. Author suck at them. It's a bit more fiddly because Author can't make those V thingys connect as well as women on man action. Either way, Author will giggle their way through it. Such is Fanfic life x

Joseph pulled away at John, letting me catch up with Red. "Catch up" as in, he just stood there, scarred arms folded, thin line where his lips used to be. After a few moments of standing there and taking him in with a tipped chin and a curious eyebrow exhibition, I folded my own recently scarred arms across, and thinned my lips best I could as I stared him up. 

"You don't scare easily, do ya, pup?"

"What? Am I supposed to be scared of you? Piss on that. You're probably the person I fear the least here. Too much like my pop. All..." I toughened up my voice. "...Rough n tough, grit n spit, Do no harm, take no shit..." I eased my way back into 22 yr old idiot. "...You know? I grew up with that."

Red nodded, looking over at what I assumed to be his men guarding the innocents. 

"I do plenty of harm, kid. I think you want me to be your old man, but I've killed plenty of weak people."

"Yeah, well. My dad had his history, too. He wasn't as vocal as you are, but he knew what to admit to and what not to admit to."

"What about your mom?"

"She died when I was a baby. Didn't know her. Only her faith, which my pop kept alive. I think, to him, especially at the start, it was all about keeping the faith going would keep her going, you know? The rules n shit. My family have such twisted histories, and I'm the only one left of the Tao family to keep that history and our shared faith alive by offering it up to my own kids." 

I stepped in front of Jacob, pulling his focus directly to me.

"I may be Seed blood, but the Tao family are my LIFE. Everything that mattered to me happened because of them." I glanced over at Joseph and John, now watching and listening intently to our conversation. 

"I won't let them down."

I was pulled back to Red by two muscular arms snaking around me, yanking me into his stomach as he quickly tapped a kiss to my bloody brow. I blinked rapidly against his messy, sweaty shirt. 

He _was_ like my pop.

Not knowing what to say without sounding too soppy, I muttered into his abs about something which had bothered me for hours:

"I think I need a shower."

***

Couldn't fucking hurt. 

Jacob loosened his grip on Analise as she stepped back, glancing anywhere but at him until she was finally able to give him a gentle smile which squeezed something inside of him.

So this was what being an uncle was like. To protect was something Jacob knew. It was a long fucking time since somebody had come into his life that didn't ask for protection (weak) but required it, whether they knew it or not. As the daughter of his younger brother, Analise gets a lifetime protection pass. He wouldn't let her down. And if Jacob reminded her of her pop, then all it means is that she'll search him out more. He had plenty of advice to hand out. Tips n tricks. Ways n means. So be it.

The brothers decided that they would have Analise's Baptism at this location. The Lamb of God church, with attached Sacristy, was as close to John's Bunker as could be, with all the added frills and candle shit that John and Joseph preferred. The weak (fucking hell) Sinners of Fall's End would be split off and rushed through their own Baptisms before being shoved down into the cells at the Bunker. 

Analise had pulled away, asking Jacob if she could have a moment with Fairgrave. Privately. 

John tweaked at that, but they'd done a frisk of each of them and they had no weapons. Even if they did, how the fuck would they take on all of the Project currently shifting and bored and curious as fuck on the sidelines? Not even mentioning Jacob himself. 

They had let Analise nod to and pull Fairgrave away from the others, Jacob and two of his Chosen currently close behind but not close enough to listen in. Jacob had tensed up, chin dipped down, thigh muscles ready to pounce in preparation for an escape, however, they had just talked, and laughed. Finishing off with a hug, of all things.

After that, Jacob had led Analise back to Joseph, while his men guarded Fairgrave. Then the Sinners were tossed into vans and carried off to various locations, begging and crying ignored. Many gave foul looks at the brothers, a few daring little shits spit at them - receiving a good slap for such a pathetic act of defiance. 

The more cowardly of the bunch swore and spat at Analise - She who had sealed their fate. Jacob hadn't let them get away with that. Neither had John. Joseph had stood at her side, while Analise had just stood silent. The calmness of his niece surprised him, but then Jacob remembered that she had the blood of Joseph. Calmness around the heathens, around the Sinners. It was what Joe was an expert at.

Until he wasn't.

After kicking a few of the Sinners down, adding to the marks already forced on their bodies, John with whispered promises to remember their names when it came for Atonement, the shits had fucked off to the vans, guards following in trucks fitted with heavy machine guns.

Eventually, it was just the brothers, and Analise. Faith was called for support, asked to bring another dress, maybe a touch of make-up, certainly more bandages and tape. Jacob could handle security, fondling his handgun on his hip. John would walk with Analise to Joseph who would perform the Baptism himself. 

***

Well, this was hell. They knew I'd already been through one of these, right? Apparently, that wasn't enough. Nope, I needed to be dunked like a duck on a dare. Dang. 

Eden's Gate. Fucking hell.

John whispered at my ear, my hearing the obvious smile in his voice, about "Now, there's no need to change the Father's name. You, of all people, are welcome to call him such a title. I'm sure he'd appreciate it." 

Oh go suck a dick, John. Seriously? We're gonna be bestest friends now we're forced to be. Yaaay.

Joseph just prayed, or some shit. And yes, I know I'm of faith, but can you really call THIS faith?? I don't think God was highfiveing himself with this information. I'm half expecting a tornado to scoop up all of us and toss us into a volcano. 

And you know what they say - What a way to go.

***

Joseph decided against the dress until after the Baptism, politely thanking Faith, and quickly introducing her to his daughter. Time was of the essence. Faith was estatic, hugging both Analise and Joseph for so long that the both of them felt the effects of the Bliss that clung to Faith like a fog.

Blinking his eyes rapidly to shoo the blue dots away, Joseph had reached out hugged his daughter tightly to his bare chest. She hadn't said a word, simply stood stiffly, looking anywhere else. Joseph didn't doubt his ability to bring her into to his arms properly. With his guidance, it wouldn't take long until she would gladly accept and love him, as he loved her.

They were connected, after all.

The dress, make-up, and medical supplies were held by a Chosen further back. Joseph preferred the privacy of the occasion, but Jacob had insisted on a few of his best men to be pushed back out of the way. Just to cover all angles. A couple of helicopters had landed in a field not far off, near the Bradbury Farm, full of men with sniper rifles, and rocket launchers. Judges were heard in the distance. Jacob hadn't mentioned them, but they were expected. Probably crammed into a few cages on the road beside the broken down gravestones of the Sinners.

Joseph glided into the cool water, hands skirting the surface, leaving open ripples in his wake. Going further, and deeper, letting God's Cleansing waters grasp at his jean clad legs, and finally up to his firm stomach, the water lapping at a spot midway between his chest and belly button. 

Turning towards the shore, Joseph witnessed John with an arm held out, Analise with no hint of emotions on her features and just lightly brushing her fingers against her brother's tattooed flesh.

She must be frightened.

A quick nod to John was all it took for his brother to slowly ease into the water, Analise casting one quick glance at Jacob, who was watching at the side, before finally staring at Joseph, her lips firm, her eyes, his own, just watching with a glare that Joseph saw every morning in the mirror.

The water lifted the blood from various places across her body, it mixing with John's, and rising to the surface before bobbing alongside them both, then being left behind in their wake, in a picture perfect scene of Cleansing. 

His daughter was shorter than Joseph, she being more the size of her mother, so the water went up to just above her breast when John had reached him. John gently kissed her bloody brow, and Joseph knew that John had meant that tender act of love. Despite Analise shooting him, John only ever wanted his family to extend. 

John had stepped back to the shore, letting Joseph take over.

Pulling Analise to his side, Joseph tapped his head close to hers, accepting their shared place of this earth at last. God had brought his daughter back to him. He had everything he ever needed.

Joseph had never been happier.

***

This was NOT what I had meant by a shower. I didn't even like baths, damn it. Also, a fish keeps circling around my ankle. I'm glad something in this freezing water is happy. Oh shit. Dirt humper is crying, wide grin on his face.

It was awfully tempting to just swim away when Joseph had stretched his arms up to the sky, praising God and probably a few other people for this moment. But more than myself was counting on this. Just let the bastard dunk a duck. 

"Are you ready to wash away your past, my child?"

No.   
Fuck off.

"Yes."

Joseph raised his hands, placing them carefully on my shoulders, then let one drift to my lower back, while the other pressed above my breast. I held my breath, and I was dunked with the fishies. The world above was hazy, the sky darkening without my even realising. Just the frame of Joseph to come back up to. My cuts, and big fucking etc stung like a bitch. A few seconds passed, and I was pulled back up, the bandage on my head slipped and had fallen across my eye. I raised a hand to brush it away, but Joseph got there first, tying it back, best he could.

"Shh There you go, my dearest, darling Analise. I'll take care of you now."

No.   
Fuck off.

Things picked up briskly after that. Joseph led me back to the shore where John hugged me for so long that Joseph had to cough more than four times, before pulling me firmly away.

Jacob was next, crushing me tightly into his stomach, muttering about "protection" and "nothing else matters now". Joseph only had to cough impatiently twice with the eldest brother. Jacob scoffed into my hair, ran a large hand down my arm, and nudged me back into Joseph's waiting arms.

Joseph walked me over to Faith - this odd "sister" that fogged up my everything, and giggled every few moments like a robot. She hugged me, too, but thankfully only long enough to see a few blue dots at the edge of my vision. 

Faith pulled me along, her light fingers tightly grasping at mine, and led me past a tiny open Sacristy and up this wooded path. The brothers followed behind, and red masked people were scattered about in the trees. Wolves howled in the distance, and the blades of a helicopter added to the EEPiness of the occasion. 

After walking up manmade concrete stairs firmly pressed into the dirt, the world opened up and I was pulled past a shed to a stunning white board church. We didn't have these back in Chicago. But no... no. The graves. The mausoleums. They were broken and shattered into bits, scattered into the earth. Clearly done recently as sledgehammers and bullet shells were everywhere, making the dirt beneath us a challenge to walk through.

I stopped dead in my tracks, yanking my hand away from Faith.

Turning to Joseph, I spat out "Why?!!"

"They were sinners." He fucking calmly replied.

I couldn't... Fucking couldn't... I felt the anger within me rising like a tsunami.

That FUCKER would have destroyed my father's grave!

In that split second before I stepped forward to punch and never stop hitting that fucker, Jacob had wrapped his thick arm around my collarbone, another around my stomach, and dragged me back into him before leading me away into the pretty church, now defiled by marks of that cult about "sinners" and "praise the" fucking "father". 

The Power of Yes?! WHAT THE FUCK DOES THAT EVEN MEAN?!

I squirmed out of the grasp of Jacob and stormed back and forth in the church, my blood mixed with river water now staining the neat wooden floorboards. I grabbed a flowerpot and threw it furiously at the stupid poster of John. 

All it did was tear it. It wasn't enough.

I turned around, woman on a mission, Jacob following close enough behind that I could feel his breathing on the back of my neck. Not touching, just there.

There was nothing here. Just crates and flowers and candles and a fucking pulpit, now knocked on its side. URGH! 

Leaving the large room, I found a smaller one. Some sort of meeting room. Coffee machine, scattered chairs, tables at the side... Helllllooo. I twisted to Jacob, asking his permission. He chuckled, nodded, and showed me how to use it. We went back to the large room with the pulpit and that shit poster. Ducking down behind the pulpit, I waited till Jacob made sure noone was nearby outside, then I was ready. 

I pulled the pin off the grenade then tossed it at The Power of Yes, and John's stupid cocky face, ducked down, waited a few seconds, then laughed as the blast forced splinters into the wall behind us. One hit my unlucky shoulder that peeked out a touch, and Jacob shook his head, looking at me like I was a dipstick, as he yanked the thick splinter out of my shoulder and smoothed a thumb over the blood to smear it enough to clot.

I needed that. I just wanted to hit something, and only myself and an already broken down and defiled church with a stupid as fuck poster would do.

I hopped up, pulling Red with me, then hugged him tightly, my skinny arms barely able to reach around him enough to be considered "tight". He let a weighty arm drift to my back, then muttered "Come on, kid." and walked us both back outside to the stunned faces of the Fucker n friends, and the destruction they had caused for no reason whatsoever.

...

Alike? Maybe.


	12. John

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Analise is forced into the horror of the lacy dress.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wooooo!! Hiiiiii ❤
> 
> Bit late today. Had to take my mum out for mother's day. We went for a drive in the Lakes. It was nice. I found 10p. We had a Chinese takeaway. All a bit bonkers at the moment but we did fairly well :) 
> 
> But, the story is called 'Analise', not 'Author', so let's get right into it.
> 
> Today, I'm giving John a shout out. I'm trying to be kinder to him. Just a bit. I still wanna kick him for all the video game shit, but we're not in video game shit. We're in Fanficland, and in Fanficland, John gets a bit of wuv. 
> 
> Coming up to the end of Analise, which is quite pleasant because, let's face it, Jade will NEVER end. Chapter 21 and she still hasn't done the naughty. Analise will get her ending, and you shall appreciate the flash of calm from Author before Author destroys you all with next Fanfic. Author is weird like that. 
> 
> Byesies x Stay squishy ❤

Faith had taken me back into the church after my impromptu exhibition of fabulousness, skipping with her bare feet around the splinters and chipped bits of plant pot, as I rolled my eyes and stomped through the mess like a stubborn brat. I watched as figures stood outside, guarding my exits, as I was asked by Faith to undress. A bag of clothing was produced, as was the lightest of make-up, and various bandages that I was starting to become accustomed to. I was asked to strip and sat down on a rickety chair, while a female member of Hell's Gate tended to my assortment of wounds. Faith started on my make-up, and hair, careful not to let my wound near my ear clash too much with the make-up. Apparently, bleeding was not in style.

I quickly changed into new underwear while, thankfully, heads were turned. They knew I wouldn't go out there stripped down to my birthday suit. Cotton, plain. Nothing like the lacy (lacy ONLY belongs on bras or vest tops) bras I'd usually splurge on, or the matching cartoon boy shorts and bra combo I pick up on occasion from Forever21. 

I'm 22, so I think I pass the title of the shop, mmkay?

The stupidest of lacy dresses was produced. The kind that loses its value once it sniffs out any sharp objects. It was too close to what Faith was wearing. We'd go out there like the little girls from The Shining, and nothing would horrify me more. 

Almost everything matched. From the underwear, to the dress, to the bandages. White, pure, whatever.

Watching as Faith squealed in glee was the cherry bomb on top of this fuck sundae.

She took me out into the sunlight, and I could see that it was all Joseph could do to not hump the dirt again. He was happy, and touchy feely. Running the gentle of touches up my arms, through my hair, along my belly. Like I was his gift. It sickened me. 

John and Jacob were easier. They just hugged me. A normal reaction to an odd occasion. Heads were bashed together, and they crowded around me, the world just a patch of blue now as I was sucked into their definition of 'family'. 

I focused on the pain of the tiny stabby white rocks currently poking at the base of my bare feet. All these weapons, helicopters, explosives, leather jackets, lace, and dirt humping, and not ONE pair of tennis shoes? Fucking joke. THEY were wearing boots. Maybe it's like a test. One day, I'll pass into the world of sweat stained shirts, corpses of soft bunnies, and terrible taste in sunglasses. Yay.

Joseph held my hand as he tugged me towards the road, Blue and Red following closely behind. I stumbled a few times on the rocks against my feet, plus the force of the tug against my fingers. I could understand there was a war going on but tennis shoes, guys, seriously. Socks even. I realised that was a little hopeless as something sharp and fast hit the church behind us, leaving more splinters scattered about.

Jacob immediately pulled his gun out, stepping in front of Joseph and myself and I was pulled behind a stone wall. A ridiculous number of red balaclava people shot past us, the light pounding of their boots being the only sound they made, and wolves were heard snarling nearby. 

Moments disappeared into the screams of agony in the distance, Joseph's sweaty hand left mine, but John was still next to me. I was denied any request to know what the fuck was happening by a hand on my neck, keeping me low. Trucks rumbled in, screams and shouts, unknown, were heard. Screaming about "This is our chance!", "Let's get our home back!". I don't think they were Eden's Gate, but would they kill me if they found me like this? Would we all die? 

There was so many, and I was stuck here cowering behind a tiny wall.

I caught Joseph a little further along the walkway, closer to the church sign. He was sneaking, glancing back at us and the road. I didn't know where Red was but there was a lot of commotion further behind the road in the forest. Smoke touched the sky as screams and howling consumed my mind.

Someone climbed on my back, and pushed my face to the dirt and stabby stones. It musta been John as a pair of sunglasses hit my cheek from up above. 

It was then that I realised that blood was dripping down my cheek. John wasn't moving, he was just a weight on my back. I rolled to the side, closer to the church, as John's unconscious (?) body dropped face first in my place. I crushed myself to the wall, only aware of the muttering on the other side at the last minute. There was a man crouched just behind. I peeked through a hole where a stone had recently popped out. He wasn't dressed like us. He was wearing some sort of green camo, and muttering into a radio clenched in his fist.

"Eli, we have the Seeds trapped. Joseph is cowering nearby. John is typically passed out on the corpse of a skirt. Jacob is fucking off into the forest. They're distracted!! Get over here now! We need more support! This is our chance!!" 

I skirted around the edge, tucking my shaking frame behind the broken part at the end of the wall. The stranger then leapt over the stone wall, landing exactly where I was earlier, and proceeded to twist as he looked down at John. 

He stepped away, in the direction of where I had seen Joseph, and I let out a soft gasp as I realised how close he had been to finding me. But then he turned back, standing directly above John.

It started slowly, the anger rising within him, but it was clear. 

It began with a glob of spit, like a challenge for John to awaken, but he didn't. John didn't wake after the first kick, or the second. But when the man dropped his rifle, letting it clatter to the ground beside him, and pulled out a handgun concealed at his side.

I woke up.

I charged him with a roar, only catching a flash of shock as the corpse he'd seemingly forgotten about after being distracted by shiny unconscious John, barrelled into him, knocking him flat out onto his ass. 

He had strength, but I had a rock. 

I didn't want him dead, I just wanted him knocked out, so instead of smashing directly down, I swiped at his jaw, his nose, his forehead, anything to leave him a bubbling bloody mess on the floor. A BREATHING bubbling bloody mess on the floor. He hit me, too, but couldn't get his handgun up from where I was squishing it into his side with my thigh. 

I got a few rough smacks to the ribs with his free hand, another to my cheek, but I was fast, and desperate, and he was still stunned.

When fingers gripped my shoulders, I stopped hitting him, turning my cheek to the side as I awaited what the fingers wanted. Joseph crouched down beside me.

"That is enough, Analise. My men will tend to him now."

We were surrounded by Eden's Gate, covered in war. Even a stunned John was awake, a long trickle of blood adding a hint of Jacob to his John. Jacob stood at the back, a concerned frown upon his features and a bullet wound to his shoulder.

I nodded, standing shakily to my feet, feeling the handgun drop to the ground as I stood. The stranger's face was a mess of red, with hints of white where his teeth used to be. Bloody bubbles left his lips, and I looked away. I did this.

I reached down to John, and he stared at my hand for a few seconds before grasping at me. I pulled him up, dopey enough that my noodle wasn't taking in that this was a fully grown ass man and he was fucking heavy. We stumbled a bit, but we got him up. John stared with those blues of his at me, but I was too tired to stare back. He stepped away, heading immediately for Joseph as Joseph pulled him for a head boop. 

I walked unsteady towards Red, scooting and scraping past the members of Eden's Gate, and he collected me up as I bumbled like a dopey bee into his side, his injury quickly ruining my dress. 

"You did good, pup." Jacob nodded proudly, dropping his arm over my shoulder like a weighty, bloody snake.

"Will he live?" I asked, flicking at his bunny corpse. 

"Yea. He might not wish to once John finds out what he almost did."

We watched as a couple of ratty clothed bald men(?) dragged the bloody stranger away, my trying not to focus on the bits of tooth that was left behind, mocking me from the dirt.

Red pulled me away then, leading me to the road. 

"Whydya do it?" Jacob questioned me, searching the area as he stood with his arms folded and a solid stance, like the bullet wound in his shoulder was simply a graze rather than an extra hole in his body.

"Why do you do it?" I replied, throwing his own question back at him.

He shook his head, watching a helicopter in the distance. "Cos I'm the eldest. I protect them. I'm the Soldier. I create more soldiers to protect others. I lead my army to protect Eden's Gate. To protect our future"

No simple answer here then. That just lead to a hell of a lot of questions.

I nodded, letting my head bounce to nothing as I rubbed at the blood on my bracelet. 

"Same."

Jacob turned to me, bemused expression on his face. "What?"

"Can't you just accept that your baby brother is okay?"

"No. You had a reason, and I can't figure it out. Obvious reason is because you're trying to protect your weak little friends. But Johnny is still gonna hurt them."

"You think he'll torture them less? Torture me less?"

Jacob raised a fist to my shoulder, rubbing a rough thumb along my neck. "Can't promise anything, kid. Maybe save his life a few more times."

I scoffed, elbowing him in the stomach. "Can't promise anything, kid."

Red chuckled, and led us back to the others. The red balaclava people, some with white foggy wolves at their side, had dispersed, not even close to blending into the trees. A few stood near the road with two large, buffed up men in black bulletproof armour with HUGE guns. More approached from the south. Red and black, with nasty black masks across their faces, and a weapon gripped in their hands that I didn't recognise. It wasn't a fucking handgun. 

Joseph was whispering to John, with the latter nailing his hurt puppy routine as he dropped his gaze to his scuffed boots. A butterfly stitch now covered John's brow, and the blood had been mostly cleaned away, bar the smancy outfit.

They stepped away from each other as we approached. 

John cleared his throat then paced towards us, looking anywhere else. 

He grabbed my arm, yanking me roughly to the side as he tugged me to the back of the church. We stopped, and John dragged a shaky tattooed hand through his hair, then wrapped his hand around the back of his neck like he was trying to tug himself away from what he was about to bitch about. 

"You shouldn't have done that." He muttered at the church. I assumed he was talking to me.

"Why not?"

"Fuck's sake." John started circling himself, holding his hands out like he was trying to make a point, and then strangle said point. "You mean MORE to this... Fuck. You mean more to Eden's Gate. To the Project. To JOSEPH!" He stormed away to the little shed, punching a fist into the bitted white board. 

Little blue of fury. Alright, Anali. Time for Do No Harm. 

I wrapped my arms as tight as I could around his trembling form. When I say that he stiffened as boardy as the bloodied boards on the shed in front of him, I'm not lying. 

I rest my cheek on his smancy coat, snuffling from the dust and cologne coming off it. 

"Bullshit." 

"But you don't get to...!"

"I said "bullshit", Blue, and I mean it."

"But Joseph said you matter! He said I should have been more FUCKING careful!" John twisted around suddenly, causing me to stumble as his jacket gets yanked out of my grip. His face is a mess of fury and tears, I can barely stand to see him look so torn. 

I shove John back into the shed, grabbing onto the labels to hold his little jumpy ass steady.

"He's the one who let go of my hand and fucked off!! You stayed. That dick I knocked out probably woulda killed me without you!" 

"But he...!!"

"NO!! You listen to me! Even when you got your ass knocked the fuck out, you PROTECTED me!! That means you were right on my ass." I reached up, brushing the fury away. "You stayed with me." I rested my brow on his chest, not able to head boop because everybody is taller than me. 

"Thank you." I muttered into his silky shirt, letting a button twang on my lip.

I felt the weight as John rested his chin on my hair, feeling a long sigh brush along my scalp.

"Welcome." 

We stood frozen stiff, letting the light breeze and howls of wolves taunt us as the darkness seeped in. 

"Thank you." John whispered. 

"Welcome."


	13. Revelation: Part one.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Analise is led to a new home of suffering, anguish, and questionable fashion advice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, you guys. You know, I've NEVER let you down... Okay, that's bullshit. I've NEVER wished to let you down. I usually post on Saturday but I had a tiny breakdown with extra bad thoughts and dollops of tears n snot and just gave myself that rest of Saturday plus Sunday to have zero responsibilities. 
> 
> It's totally selfish, and I'm still being a little selfish in being completely honest and giving you a HALF CHAPTER today, and the final half next Saturday. 
> 
> It does happen. Author is squishy human. If I had sent the Chapter out on Saturday, it would all be edited terribly because the screen would be covered in tears. So many tears that, even though it's completely impossible, the Chapter font given to you all would be smudged. 
> 
> There. I saved you all from ink. Nobody likes ink. 
> 
> Any who, the world is batshit, and we are suffering from times that I hope the world will never see again. However, we are all together in this. Optimism is front and centre, along with Jacob's muscles, and the world is looking for a cure. The ENTIRE world. Amazing. 
> 
> Love you guys ❤ stay safe x

Joseph planned. He had a choice to make, and he didn't think either of his brothers could help him in this. The Voice was silent, surprisingly so, leaving him to make this choice on his own. 

Where will he place his daughter?

The obvious answer was directly into John's Bunker. Rooms had already been set up for his family. It was their choice whether to join John down there. Joseph had planned to. His own Bunker for seven years alone was a foolish choice. He knew of others, of course, dotted around the County, but it would be wise to make the choice to help the Sinners currently being taken into the largest Bunker. Joseph needed to guide his children.

Jacob had his own Bunker, and was planning to return there to provide training for his soldiers. However, Jacob's niece had somewhat latched onto Jacob, and Joseph was unsure about where he would end up. A series of rooms in John's Bunker had been emptied, just in case. Luckily, Jacob packed light.

Faith... Faith would go into her own Bunker. Her future was laced in Bliss, and she had only just started to tap fully into the power of the gift from God. With Feeney at her side, she would produce wonders for whatever future lay before them.

Joseph watched as a medic passed supplies to Jacob. They all knew his older brother preferred to bandage himself. He cleaned and wrapped the wound briskly, not even removing his shirt. Yet another scar merely marked upon his flesh. Jacob led the way in scars amongst the brothers. They all had their version of being used to this. 

Analise and John came round the corner from behind the church soon enough, a gash across the knuckles of John announced his Wrath. Joseph would deal with that later.

For now, he watched his daughter. Her stunning white dress was spotted and smeared with blood, but that was to be expected. She was a messy child.

Reaching a hand out, Joseph wrapped his fingers around her wrist, and pulled her to the convoy of trucks ahead of them. Because of the Sinner's war, they had six trucks lined up, weapons attached at Jacob's insistence, and a helicopter overhead. It seemed a little much, but who was Joseph to disagree with his eldest brother - a man forever at war who was sworn to protect them.

He led her to the back of the truck, letting Analise slide to the middle seat, and sat down beside her, while John sat on her other side. Jacob slid in the front of the truck, letting an elite Chosen take position as a driver. Jacob kept his radio in his hand, holding it close to his ear for any reports on their drive to the Bunker. John kept running his uninjured hand over his injured leg, wincing in pain. 

Joseph reached out, and held his daughter's hand.

Now he wished he could say that was easy experience, but from the small frown etched on her young features, Joseph could see something was bothering her. Yes, this was a challenging time. A time of pain, yet to come. A time of pain within her friends, yet to come. But the end results would be a gift from God. They would be saved, all of them. And thanks, in most part, to his daughter. His Analise. A saviour of many.

A gift from God.

Analise only lost her frown after they crossed the first bridge, letting her hand reach out and grasp at John. A flinch from his younger brother, and a silent smile as he looked out the window. Whatever had they spoken of behind the church? Joseph would have to find out later on. 

They reached the turning towards the Bunker, a slow mass of safety as the convoy trudged carefully up the hill. Joseph was more interested in the movement within the car rather than the shifting of God's beauty. Jacob kept glancing back in the mirror, John kept rubbing his thumb along Analise's wrist. They all had a part in her life now. 

Joseph's hand was simply lying like a dead fish in hers. No soft smiles, or warm glances. No running fingers, or childish elbow nudging. Just a dead fish. He knew there was seven years of life with her. Eventually, the fish would live, and she would be his daughter, but Joseph couldn't understand why she had latched onto his brothers so quickly, and so easily. It was almost like a test he had already failed. Plenty of love for them, but where did he, her own father, come into this? 

Was it because he left?  
Was it because of how he left?  
Was this the reason the Voice had left?

Is this his punishment for squeezing that little plastic tube so long ago?

Taketh.

***

The convoy of certain owwies rolled to a stop in an area of white concrete. Flags draped from up above, and large white trucks were humming and tossing fumes into the atmosphere as they were unloaded and then sent back off into the world. The air tasted like effort.

Men and women clad in Eden's Gate fashion burlap tried to not glance between the brothers, and instead spoke to their friend's ears or wrote nonsense on their clipboards as we left the truck and climbed the invisible stage they'd erected. 

I didn't know what information had gotten out, I couldn't bring myself to care. 

In front of us was a wide open, thick metal door guarded by two large masked men with huge black guns, used, that I tried to avoid staring at. There was no way out, or in, or even to stare at the door in passing as a tourist. Agony on the concrete outside proved that war was waging. It also proved that no-one knew how to clean up blood or viscera. 

I took one final glance at the stars before we began our journey into fluorescent lighting. One final breath of dirt and cow faeces and some kind of burning pork (?) before the scent of armpits, oil, and MREs consumed my nostrils. 

Some things that we never truly appreciate before being crammed into a bunker. Oh, and torture. That sucks, too. 

Joseph kept close to me on the way through the entrance, while Red and Blue breathed down our necks. That's okay, I needed a word with Joseph anyways.

I was led down, turning once to take one final glance at a different type of darkness before traipsing past barrels of fuel and extra cheesy posters of John. I reserved my right then and there to mock him later for them.

We hit the base of the stairs, surrounded by washing machines and crates of food. Men were milling about chatting but jumped up when they saw the brothers. I heard Jacob and John mutter about punishment, but, luckily, I only had to focus on my own agony for now. 

I yanked my hand away from Joseph and stopped dead in my tracks when I found what turned out to be a finger sticking out from under a box marked with blood. It was coiled like it was asking me to step closer. I refused, and stepped back into a tank behind me. The tank twisted me to him once he saw what I had seen. I tried to ignore Blue pulling out a monogrammed tissue, focusing instead on Red's dogtags. 

"That's not gonna happen to me, right?" I tried not to ask the dogtags. 

"Every bit of you will remain intact. I promise."

I looked up as Jacob smiled reassuringly at me. Maybe that woulda worked had I not seen a finger. 

I stepped away, turning back through the maze of crap, then made the longer journey to Joseph and successfully avoided body parts scattered on the floor. 

Anything larger than a tooth right now and I was ready to walk through the tank to get the fuck out of here. 

I stuck my hand gingerly back in Joseph's and we left the room of furniture, freedom, and fingers. 

There was a three way path ahead of us. Three locked doors, heavy like the entrance to this vault. As Jacob started to twist the handle to the left, I quickly took in the room. Metal scraps were heaped up in the corner, tubing, pipes, screws. All with a purpose. 

One with one purpose. 

***

Joseph waited patiently while Jacob unlocked the door. A light tug brought Joseph's attention to Analise, and as he turned, he caught a small soft smile directed at him from his daughter. Finally, she was coming around. This was the beginning. This would change everything.

"Joseph, before we go further into the Bunker, may I ask you a question about my mother? About... Caroline?" Her eyes glanced briskly down to his tattoo. 

"Of course, my Analise. Ask away."

Analise shook her head regrettably, looking back at John, Jacob, and the men nearby. "No... No, I can't ask. Not here. Ermm.... " she turned towards Jacob as they watched him struggle with the lock. They'd always had problems with these doors. Mechanism issues. It was due to be fixed. In fact, the new parts was probably already in the truck outside.

Analise turned towards the opposite door and fiddled with the lock. With a quick shift, and a grunt, she got it to twist smoothly open. Joseph would like to admit that was his daughter's strength but this was only a dead end storage room. They barely used it in the first place if the dust wafting up from the ground told him anything. 

His brothers turned at the heavy door opening, but Joseph insisted they'd only be a few moments, they'd even keep the door open if the brothers promised not to listen in. This was a private moment between father and daughter. The first of many. 

Joseph watched as Analise stepped into the small dusty chamber, only lit up by a single block of light. He went to follow but her sudden sneezes brought her back out into the hallway. 

"I'm okay." Analise laughed between sneezes. "I think I sneezed all the dust away." John patted her on the back as she coughed, and sneezed one final time.

"All good now. You go ahead, I'll just be a sec." 

Joseph stepped carefully into the dusty room, holding a tissue to his nose and mouth. He breathed out carefully then back in, it was odd as the room had a musty odour but was hardly terribly dusty. She must have caught a fresh wave of it as she'd entered the room. 

Joseph listened as Analise suggested to John that perhaps the handle needed two extra hands. She'd seen it before, apparently. "You just gotta jolt it just right."

He looked about the borderline useless room, at the old broken down parts of machinery that would never work again. This room could still have use. 

A light scrape of metal, a pin prick in his neck, and Joseph's body gave out.

A slam of a heavy door amongst all the fuzzy blur and the cold chill. A LOUD scrape of metal. Booming shouts. 

Muted.  
Recognisable. 

Dust. 

That pesky dust wafted up and up, as Analise crouched down and down. He couldn't focus... Why? Why was this... This didn't make any... She touched his chin, raised it to her, their, beautiful blue eyes, and spoke.. She said... Wait? 

"You and I need to talk."


	14. Revelation: Part two.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Analise and Joseph finally have a chance to speak in private.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: Mention of infant death.  
> Please comment if you wish me to write the gist.
> 
> There's a LOT of anger in this Chapter. Be aware ❤

"Once upon a time, twenty two ish years ago, there was a young family. A father, a mother, and their baby girl that grew within the mother."

I stood up from my crouch, pacing the room, ignoring the muted yells and threats from beyond the heavy door. 

"One day, a tragedy occurred. I'm not sure on the details, but it appears the mother sustained near fatal injuries in a horrific car crash. She was taken to a hospital in Georgia, where the doctors worked for hours to save her life, or, at the very least, her baby's life."

Joseph lay flat out on the ground, the only detail of anything wrong being a trickle of blood from the injection I'd administered to his neck.

"The husband of the wife, and father to the baby girl arrived too late, and was unable to say "Goodbye" to his wife. A tragic incident, really. But, a miracle occurred. The baby survived. A few mild injuries, but babies are sturdy little things, able to withstand new parents. She would have been fine, the doctors wrote in her chart, two to four weeks of healing max."

I crouched down beside Joseph, gently wiping away the blood at his neck. 

"But the father disagreed with professional medical advice, and, for a reason that the baby girl is unsure of 22 years later, he murdered the baby instead."

I straddled Joseph, kneeling across his thin stomach, and stared him right in the eyes.

"Is that true, Joseph? Did you murder your baby girl for no fucking reason whatsoever?" 

The door shuddered with the force of something awful heavy slamming into it, but the metal pipe against the wheel and the corner of the room held strong. 

I stood up, looming over Joseph and his pathetic attempt at tears. 

"One thing the father of the baby girl didn't know, is that the story continued."

I yanked out his blade from a setting on his belt, twirling it in my fingers as the door was slammed into repeatedly. 

"As the COWARDLY father walked away from the corpse of his baby girl..." I spat out with venom, shot down to his wrist, and snipped off his rosary before tossing it to the ground in fury. "...I don't think you're a man of God enough to need this anymore." 

Joseph drooled, eyes able to flicker but that was all he could accomplish with the drug currently gunning its way through his body. 

I continued. "...As I said, the cowardly father walked away, out into the night, unaware that an older man, a medic from the Vietnam war, was passing by the baby girl's room. He'd even caught a glimpse of the father leaving by the fire exit. That man was called Roman Tao. His wife was sick, they were unaware that she was being consumed by the early stages of cancer, and he just happened to be walking past on his way out from visiting hours. He saved that baby girl's life."

I knelt down beside Joseph, tossing the blade away. 

"He saved my life. Adoption in Georgia is pretty open. He was able to adopt me in record time, especially since explaining to the authorities what had happened. Especially since showing them that he could be a better father than a man who murdered his daughter."

I sucked an arm up my sleeve, and dug around in my bra searching for the 2nd surprise I had picked up, knowing they would never have looked in such a personal place, I pulled the warm item out and ran the tiny plastic tub between two fingers.

"My father, Roman Tao, raised me from my death. He took me away from Georgia, becoming both father and mother to me after my mother, Ada Tao, died shortly after my adoption."

I flicked the lid off the tub, sniffing the contents as I caught the eyes of Joseph widening. The door shuddered, but their yells of anger were muted as I continued.

"Oh, you should be afraid. My father was a wonderful man. Dedicated, loving, experienced. He taught me, and many others, a lot about life. The world died a little when he did. But... He had a dark side. Not to me, no, NEVER to me. He just had a tiny issue obeying the law."

Joseph's fingers twitched a touch, now or never.

"Roman Tao never got caught for his crimes as he was an expert, and knew exactly how to get in and out. He knew who to trust, he knew who would fail him, and he knew what to search for. He wanted to know who had killed his darling daughter. When he found out, he waited until I was 18, and he gave me a choice. Actually, he gave me 3 choices." 

I dragged my hand through Joseph's lanky hair, yanking out the bun, and then folded his lightly twitching hands across his stomach in a mockery of death. 

"Pine nuts. Deathly allergic to pine nuts." 

I ran my tongue along the edge of the plastic tub, tasting the dust of the crushed nuts I had collected while leaving the clinic.

"Thank God for Montana, huh? They sure do like their Pinyons. Looks like I'm okay, but you... Your medical records indicate a deadly allergy to pine nuts." 

I tutted, yanking a damp cloth tissue out of his front jeans pocket, and cleaned away the marks of tears across his cheeks.

"There we go. Want you to be ready for this. We want you to look nice and handsome for when your brothers finally get in. Taking their sweet ass time."

I waved his shifting hand at the door as John's panicked face crowded the small unbreakable window. I'm sorry, John. This had to be done.

"Goodbye, father. God forgive you."

Kissing Joseph on the brow, I opened his jaw with one hand, and tipped the tub, letting the dust bypass his lips, then go straight down into his mouth. 

The effect was immediate. Tiny gasps as Joseph's breath become shallow, his eyes widening in fear as tears ran down his cheeks. I sat back, folding my legs and placing the tub to the side, watching a man die slowly in front of me. 

A single track of blood ran from his nose.  
A single track of blood ran from my nose.

I knew I wouldn't ever forget this. 

I knew I would suffer.

I knew God would forgive me.

Joseph Seed was dead, and I knew I could finally forgive him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There we go. 
> 
> This story was always going to have this happen. I don't mind if you don't agree with me. I was just full of fury when I found out from the game, and I always wondered about his daughter. It's such a terrible experience to write about, but I wanted her to live and to be given a choice. 
> 
> The story is not quite over yet.


	15. Sin her.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Analise makes a final choice, and faces the consequences of her actions.

White.

No life here, no death. 

Just white.

No sufferings, no great deeds. Everything that he had done...

Gone.

Joseph felt peace. 

And then, a feeling which never should exist in such a place.

Doubt.

Red. One spot. Two. Six. A puddle. A flood.

A scream. 

HER scream.

Caroline. It was Caroline. It was... She was...Broken.

A metal table. A white cloth draped over her cooling corpse. 

No. GOD no. Not again. He couldn't do this again. 

Joseph was crushed. Crushed by nothing. He couldn't breathe, if breath even existed here. 

Three simple words.

Spoken from nothing, but words that mean everything.

"I forgive you."

A sharp pain to his upper thigh, and Joseph sucked up a waft of dust. He could move again, but not a lot. 

Enough to tip his head to the side, and suck in the musty air.

Enough to see his little brother crying in the tiny window, the desperate bangs against the heavy metal door accomplishing nothing but heartbreak.

Enough to see Analise tossing an Epi-Pen injector away from them both, blood smeared on her cheek and pure nothing in her eyes as she gazed at him. 

She kept her focus as a soft hand came and gripped him firmly around the neck, one thumb on his bearded chin forcing his pathetic weakness still pounding through his veins to stare directly back at her.

He took deep breaths as she whispered, relishing in the taste of gritty copper on his tongue. 

"Now you know what it's like to die, and be brought back to life by a member of the Tao family. I will never be your daughter. My grace, and forgiveness belongs to Roman and Ada Tao. You will never own me. I will live only for them."

Analise dropped his chin roughly, letting the remnants of the drug take over as Joseph dropped his head towards the door. 

She stood, walking slowly towards the door. Casually taking a stroll as if her uncles and countless members of the Project weren't slamming on the door with promised protection for the Father and severe punishments for the daughter. 

***

I stopped at the exit. Staring at the metal pipe holding the world out from punishing me. Glancing up, I caught the roaring barely heard fury of John, until he was forced aside and the calm finality of Jacob appeared. 

Red... Fuck, I liked him. I liked Blue, too. 

Is forgiveness possible outside of my family?

Guess it's time to find out. 

I gripped one edge of the metal pipe, readying myself to shunt the pipe away from the wall at the base, but... Wait.

I turned to him. To that man. To the man that murdered me. To the man that saved me from a life with him. 

It muddled my mind up. 

I scoffed, watching as his legs twitched. My final chance to have my say before whatever fucking pain will come my way.

"If I was like you, you'd still be dead. You are nobody's father."

I shunted the pipe away, tossing it aside, and leaned heavily against the cold wall at my back. My glazed eyes caught Joseph's as the ear piercing squeak of the metal lock became the final whistle to our father/daughter dance.

***

Jacob charged in first. One hard forcing his da... Analise back and up until she was on her toes, one hand briskly frisking her body. But what could be found, what wasn't already used?

John charged in next. A medic hot on his heels. Joseph felt a second Epi-Pen hit his thigh, letting his breath even out. Soft, manicured fingers gently pet his brow, his neck...anywhere John could reach him. Joseph leaned into the touch, looking for any kind of affection, while staring at his da...OH! She was, though... Wasn't she?

A moment of understanding was reached between Analise and Joseph here. He could break her, years of torment. He, and his brothers, were clearly capable of it. She knew that, too. 

But Analise would never be his daughter.

Joseph's daughter was dead. Sacrificed by his hand. The young woman before him, crushed into the wall by his older brother, may share their blood. Her eyes may be as blue as his. But Joseph as a father, Joseph as a human being got left behind when he had pinched that plastic tube and then whatever humanity was left was simply washed away by the rain.

A man in mourning.

Broken.

A chance to be a father.

Weak.

The Lord giveth.

And Joseph took.

***

There was immense struggles after that. I remember the first session of torture, and it _was_ torture. Apparently, everybody else was strapped to a chair. Instead, I was laid out flat on my stomach against a filthy metal table, my back stripped to the air. 

I knew he was there, cowering in the corner. Not 'Father' enough to destroy me. John was in his element, confidently storytelling about his past with the preen of a proud gazelle.

Jacob was different, as I thought he'd be. He stood right near my head, first looking to check the rope tying me down then whispering in my ear about his life after I screamed when the blade first pierced my flesh.

He kept talking, crouching down to my level as he continued, not touching, just distracting me from the hours of tears, different blades dragging and marking, and those moments of hushed, almost mocking, soothing tones as John cleaned up his talent.

This went on for three weeks. I was past Atonement. I had _killed_ the Father. 

Big Fucking No-No.

My back went from the smooth and untouched flesh of a 22 yr old, to being covered in scars, wide and agonising in their healing, burns marking the landscape at the point of my shoulder blades and, most telling of all..

WRATH  
PRIDE  
LUST  
GLUTTONY  
GREED  
SLOTH  
ENVY

Worst of all was the final day, when Joseph flipped me over on the table after a particularly endless session with John, and carved DAUGHTER just under my collarbone with nothing in his eyes. He was like a robot: Sans emotion. 

Once I realised what he was doing, I fought him, managing to force him back a few times before John and Jacob held me down.

They always had the threat of removing these sins one day, I saw others stapled to the wall, but not this one.

I passed out in my barren cell surrounded by a pool of blood after ripping it off my flesh myself.

When I awoke, I wasn't in my cell anymore. It didn't take me long to realise I was still in the bunker, but what shocked me was that I was in a room attached to Jacob's. I'd have to go through his room to get the fuck out. And while he wasn't always there, his guards were. Faceless, nameless statues with nothing but orders running through their minds, and certainly not my orders.

At that time, I didn't think Jacob had forgiven me, but he started to let me eat with him in his room. It started with silence, then led to light conversations about his and his brother's childhood. 

Days turned to weeks. John visited. Angrily at first, but eventually he joined in eating with us. John even started to suggest visiting my "little friends", with a guard at our side at all times, of course. 

Joseph never visited, neither did Faith. I didn't care to understand why. The family know why I did it. That's all that mattered.

A month passed by, I was allowed limited freedom. Some days, I sparred with Jacob in the gym. Other days, I visited my friends. 

I hugged Jerome so tight until he had to point out that his Atonement led to more injuries than this hug could cope with. He wore the off white jumper of Eden's Hate. He was different. Changed. Muted in his common speech. Only really talking with fire in his eyes about God. Everything else was pushed aside. I promised to make it temporary.

Fall's End was more understanding, but had a slight limp that was new from when I'd last spoken to her. She's the one who hugged me tight, apologising. For what? I dunno. Maybe she felt my back through my shirt. Maybe she saw the massive scar across my chest. Maybe she was apologising for my being blood related to that son of a bitch that had done all of this. It's a daily spit in the fucking face for any normal person.

Two months gone, and more people entered the bunker. I had started to see Joseph in passing, never a word shared. The world was still going on, ignoring us, and Hope County belonged to Eden's Gate now. Tunnels were finished underground, connecting all three bunkers. 

Jacob kept me in the loop. I wondered, sometimes, if this was punishment, as "loop" also involved the death of many important members of the resistance. Men and women I'd never heard of but wouldn't ever forget because I knew how they screamed as they were torn apart by ravenous wolves, or how they were now splattered across the ground underneath the stoic eyes of the Seed statue. 

The suffering of the world was still going on, and I was having porridge and jam with one who contributed to that. It hurt me to know. I couldn't do anything. We never had food that involved anything sharper than a fork. Even the plates were plastic. The bunker was locked up, guns held tight. The "sinners" had free reign of the bunker once Atonement had passed, but we were prisoners. I know a few got shipped out to Jacob, they never returned. 

A taste of freedom with Jacob led to the world's death. 

He had woken me up, 3am, with instructions to shower, eat, and dress within twenty minutes. By this point, I knew to never refuse a direct order. Punishments were painful, and while others felt that directly from Jacob, he directed John to me for a quick agonising reminder of what they were capable of. To which John was only too happy to leave behind a mark, or six. 

Jacob was the only brother who never physically hurt me.

Physically.

After getting ready, I was lead through the bunker, dead eyed Chosen at my back, and met up with Jacob and a compound bow as we left the bunker. We left the fucking bunker! First time in months! 

But... It was horrific outside. Bliss flowers dotted the scene contrasting heavily with the deep and tepid rivers of blood. The scent was overwhelming. Bits of corpses hung up just beyond the heavy security fortifications. Barbed wire dotted with feathers, torn pieces of clothing, and Bliss flowers reaching high up into the sky.

Hell had happened here. 

I covered my mouth as we approached the corpses, the flies owned the sky and there were stains of vomit on the ground. 

Jacob and his Chosen... They were fine, like this was a regular thing. I guess it was to them. 

We headed deeper into the woods, the fresh air and twittering of birds becoming my new version of heaven. 

When we finally stopped, Jacob ordered his men to disperse, and handed me a pair of binoculars. 

The first deer, right through the heart.

The second deer, right through the heart.

The third deer, miss.

The ground shook beneath us with the force, and before I could wonder why, Jacob had tossed me over his shoulder. 

He tore through those trees, even as they began to burn. The air became difficult to breathe, the world never stopped shaking. Tears ran down my face as the smoke clouded my vision. 

I could hear Jacob breathing heavily. Heavy swears and various reassurances escaped his lips, barely heard over the apocalypse. 

When we reached the bunker, Jacob's Chosen at his back, Jacob tossed me in heavily, spinning to slam home the lock. 

When that was over with a finality seared into my brain, he crouched over me, slamming a hand into my back to try to lessen the coughing, and resting his heavy, sweaty forehead on my shoulder as we waited for the medics.

Hours later, I was set up in bed, oxygen mask wrapped around my face. The world had ended. Now we were truly trapped. Jacob had told me that the majority of Hope had been wiped out or collected beforehand, pride in his voice. 

Pride in his fucking voice.

The door opened to Jacob's room - I wasn't allowed a door after "accidentally" spilling ink on John's shirt 5 weeks back. Childish wins but wins nevertheless - As the footsteps tapped through Jacob's room, I realised I didn't recognise them. They weren't confident, they were unsure. 

When Joseph stepped into my room, and silently pulled a metal desk chair to the side of my bed, I thought he'd tell me that it was time for my death. Finally. Took him fucking long enough.

After a few moments of watching him brush nothing off his jeans, and tightening his newly gotten fakeass rosary across his wrist after I had destroyed the last one, Joseph placed a calm wrist, heavy and cold like a block of ice, on my ankle. 

"I will not kill you." Joseph started, correctly deciphering my twisted thoughts of death. "I'm merely here to state my intentions. I have declined you joining my sermons in the past, feeling as though there was no place for someone corrupt like yourself. However, I see now, as the Collapse has finally arrived, that we must interact in our future. Not because it's God's will, but because it is mine." 

Joseph stood, turning away from me as he walked to my desk. "It seems the Voice has left me. Has left us..." Joseph turned, question in his eyes. I nodded. Yes, I had no visions, no connections. Nothing but me in my head. "...Then we must move forward and pray He returns to us both. I notice you have connected with Jacob, would you wish this to remain as so?"

"Yes, please."

"Good. Then there's nothing left to say for now. I will be around if you wish to talk. Jerome has asked for the ability to speak his own words of God, and I accepted if he sticks to my basic message. I'm sure you'll rather join his sermon."

I nodded again, shock clear on my face.

"He will be watched, of course. We'll hold his sermon at different times than mine, that way we can listen in on each other." Joseph started to leave, but stopped at the threshold. Turning, he gently brushed a kiss to my brow, then immediately started to leave... Wait.

"Joseph. The three choices Roman Tao gave me were Kill, forgive, or both. I don't regret my decision."

"In that case, my child, thank you for choosing correctly." He left, tapping calmly away. 

Huh.

The weeks to months after that were changed. Sure, I heard the odd scream, witnessed the occasional beating, but it was as we were at a difficult version of peace. It was challenging, almost hilarious with how us, the innocent, danced and avoided them. 

Jerome's sermons were miles better for him. There were guards, and his sermons were always attended by min one member of the Seeds. But Jerome lit up, smile on his face as he spoke of God's word. I always showed to his speeches, Fall's End at my side. She was happy, too. No more limp, and somehow she had befriended John. Always at odds but quite decent at conversation. 

One day, five months after the Collapse, I felt a soft warm hand clasp at mine. A month after that, a first date at Jacob's room. Mary, she insisted that I call her, moved into my room. Three months later, we requested an empty room down the hall to be decorated. 

A year later, marriage. Jacob walked me down the aisle. Joseph married us. John insisted on being my best man. It was a little batshit, but it worked out. She was all that mattered to me.

Today, three years later, I sit with a bouncing baby on my lap. Adopted after their mother had died and its father couldn't cope. Reminiscent of...well...You know.

I don't know how the future will play out. It's okay now. Not brilliant, the cult gathered more than enough supplies but we're still stuck here. The sky is blue, the sun is warm, but not down here. 

I promised Mary we'd go back to Fall's End, no matter what. I promised her we'll have a life there together. I promised her the Seeds couldn't prevent that. 

Nobody could.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, there we have it. The final Chapter. 
> 
> This was always my end. I struggled immensely with forgiveness in my life, and that's why such things pop up in my fics. I don't know how to write without it - unless it's a simple one shot, obvs. 
> 
> I hope you enjoyed. I know I went for time skips but it made sense for me. Seven years is a long time, and I didn't wish to delve too much into torture time. 
> 
> And yes, Analise would always end up with Mary May. I was gutted when I found out what happened to MM. This is how I give her a happy, even if it's a painful version of one.
> 
> Gonna start on next fic this week. 
> 
> Take care, you guys. I do love you lots ❤


End file.
